Be willing to start again countless time and achieve what others won’t
How damn can you start at square zero countless times when you put all your efforts and limited sources to just get nothing? Where can you find courage and motivation if you feel defeated?
Those questions come to my mind every time I put my limited resources and it turns out that life hit me in the face and throw me back.
Working hard and sacrifice things that matter to you are not a warranty to achieve your goals or what you suppose is going to achieve. Even after doing it that way, life will throw you at square zero over and over again.
That special part of life’s game is really sad and discouraging for all of us. Yet, that situation is the right space where you can become stronger and be ahead of the rest.
The more discouraging the situation is, the stronger you can become — Blarz
Dealing, building, and improving the ability to start over and over again is one of the most underestimated keys to achieving anything in your life.
Let me walk you through how I have been building the ability to start at square zero throughout my life and the most important how this could help you too.
Starting at square zero over and over
I have been rejected a hundred times trying to get hired for my dream job. I have failed more than five times trying to become an entrepreneur, I failed ridiculosity. I have lost money that never was mine, it was all loans. I am still feeling the effect of it nowadays.
I sold my father’s inheritance trying to get a Canadian visa and move abroad and guess what? I lost all that money. I didn’t pass the driver’s license road test the first time, I felt myself like a complete failure. I didn’t pass a test to get a scholarship to study abroad. The list goes on.
I have failed countless times in different aspects and fields of my life.
Does it matter the number of failures?. A resounding NOT. It matters the way you reflect and the action plan you create to get through next time. What you don’t know is that quietly you are building the skill of starting at square zero again.
In the end, the number of rejections is just a relation between who you are now and who you were yesterday.
Tom Bilyeu, a successful entrepreneur, founder of the Impact Theory as always says pain + reflection=progress.
Ok Bob you have just said what others have said over and over. So please the question here is how to build that skill when you are hurt and with a feeling of defeat?
Ok, I will share with you what I did and also what I do all the time.
Preparation is everything. Train your brain before to go to the war
The war here means anything you are trying to achieve. Get your dream job, get out of debt, get accepted your writing pieces or publishing and featured in a major publication, being successful as an entrepreneur, get a new relationship, get in shape, being healthier, or whatever your goal is.
Being prepared doesn’t mean that when life will hit you in the face and throws you back at square zero it is not going to hurt you. Neither means it won’t’ break any aspiration and dream you have. For sure, it will.
But here is where things turn powerful. The more aware of the impact and effects of the knock you are, the more endure you will have against it. Therefore, it means you are prepared to embrace it and overcome it.
Having the right mindset
Once you have been prepared to face the impact and effects of your decision is time to put it into practice whenever the cyclone(failure, mistake, embarrassment, rejection) makes landfall on you.
You have read hundreds of posts, books, podcasts, and successful people saying “the right mindset is everything”. isn’t it? You may think, come on Bob this is the same cliche stuff.
But wait a moment and continue reading. The truth about the right mindset is that most of us will fail to set it when things went wrong since there’s a sad feeling. There’s no way to feel good due to you put all of the effort and sources to get nothing.
Yet even, under tough moments like depression, disappointments, rejections, anxiety, or failures we can set the right mindset by just embracing the failure and trying to convince our brain that it’s going to pass soon.
Yet, this process is not overnight as all in life, it becomes easier from several failures and mistakes. So the more failures, the more opportunities to train your brain.
Focus on how much forward you have gone
Starting at square zero means you need to have the courage to get up over and over again. Hang in there while there’s no light at all. This mindset is so tied with the fact of how bad you want that.
Whenever life throws me back to square zero, the first thing I seed on my head is, the thought that I was born with the skills of never give up. They will give up first and then I will win. I am stronger than the failures and rejections.
I seed enough courage to start again, they will not defeat my ridiculous obsession to get what I want to achieve.
So I look back and see how much forward I have gone.
Progress is no measured by the result of the day but by the things you got started that day. — Unknown
Therefore, a rejection is not the measure but the everyday decision you took to put your ass off and started to work on the tasks.
- Take your time to digest that fucking time, cry if you want, you have the right to do it and this is needed as human beings, or talk with someone you trust to get out your feelings. You will feel better.
Just roll with it
You cannot change the result when life hits you in the face, but you can create the things that will change the result of the next attempt.
This is what I do
- Create an action plan with what I got wrong, what I got well, and what I will do to achieve the goal I have in my mind.
- Track every action item of the action plan. If something is not working I adjust it to my own reality.
Ending thoughts
Damn! It’s really hard to start at square zero several times. This is even worst when you lost everything to get nothing.
The quietly and good thing is that thanks to this I have achieved things I couldn’t ever think would be possible. Like, I became a writer with zero English background, a programmer, and a stronger mindset person. A better human being.
Remember preparation is everything. This is key to build the skill of starting at square zero countless times.
