How Did You Fail in 2013?

It’s #FailureFriday! We’re dedicating the end of the week to reframing our thoughts on failure.

Can you believe the year is almost over?

It’s the last #FailureFriday of the year so we thought we’d share a little exercise to help you send off this year’s failures (and look forward to next year’s).

List 3 of your biggest failures from 2013

Write down a list of the things you failed at this year. If it still stings, take a few minutes to free-write anything you need to say about that failure to put it truly behind you.

This next part might feel hard at first, but stick with us: write one thing you learned for the better from this failure.

List 3 of your biggest accomplishments from 2013

Once you’ve jotted down a few accomplishments from this year - things you are really proud of - think back to what preceded those moments. Did you lose a few pounds? Think about the months before that weight came off. Chances are you didn’t feel so great about yourself. Maybe you even felt like a failure? Now consider how those temporary feelings of loserdom motivated you take actions that allowed you to achieve the results you were looking for.

Kind of interesting right? We like this exercise because it’s a neat reminder that the lessons we learn from our perceived failures often propel us into something better. It’s best not to dwell over the low point, because the sooner we get over it, the sooner we move towards something we can feel proud about.

These two exercises might feel a little cheesy, but if you bear with us, you’ll see that they start to plant new seeds on how you think about failure! Please feel free to share any of your lists below in the comment section!

If you need a little more failure inspiration, check out some of our favorite #FailureFriday posts from this year:

Fail As Often As Possible
What Does It Mean to Fail?
The Fringe Benefits of Failure
Define Failure for Yourself
This Week in Failure…

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for our weekly #FailureFriday quotes!