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Bradley Roteman's avatar

Tom Hopkins Cha.pion's Creed

I am not judged by the number of times I fail but by the number of times I succeed. And the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying.

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David C Morris's avatar

Good timing. Neil, Dmitiri, and I were just talking about setbacks and how to deal with them in this week's AL study group. I just finished William Irivine's book, The Stoic Challenge - where 'The Challenge' is learning how to effectively overcome setbacks (instead of giving up or getting frustrated and angry), reframing them into challenges (think of Ryan Holilday's The Obstacle is the Way), and creating hardships for yourself to build resilience. To me, it's kind of like the root operating system for everything we do. You have a goal. You set out to achieve goal. The harder the goal, the more likely you will encounter setbacks. The more practice you get at effectively dealing with setbacks, the better you will be able to handle future setbacks. Wash, rinse, repeat.

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Admired Leadership's avatar

It is interesting that resilience training has that effect. The hard thing that you choose to do seems to help you be resilient with other, unrelated hard things. Not all virtues seem to respond that way.

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David C Morris's avatar

I think that most of us, when faced with setbacks, choose the easy path. It might not be the optimal path to take, but it's the one we know and the one we're comfortable with. What if, when we're faced with a setback, we can remain calm and collected long enough to think of what the 'next best move' is. If the though of that 'next best move' makes us a little uncomfortable - we've hit on a true learning opportunity. I like to tell myself in these situations, "It'll be fine! Jump on in, the water is really cold).

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Bob Price's avatar

I needed to hear your post today. I had a bad experience just this morning. I wrote and rewrote, practiced and practiced some more. I thought that my material was good, that I did a good job of delivering it, people were attentive and respectful, and then nothing...no reaction. I did not know what to think; I questioned everything about my writing. And then I read your post. Thank You for reminding me about what I know. Don't give up, don't ever give up...I have something to say and the world needs to hear it. I just need to get better!

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Jo Lein's avatar

I can definitely relate to this one after getting a little roasted on the internet (I walked right into it). After liking my prideful wounds and doing some light reading on humility, I recognized that the path forward was to break down my own beliefs and find a third way.

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Dr Nia D Thomas's avatar

Great reminder!!

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Henry Gray's avatar

Anthony Albanese our Australian Prime Minister is steely, determined and absolutely committed to making the right decisions that will benefit and enrich Australia, socially, culturally, economically and ultimately, spiritually. He is working to bring the disparity between our parts to a point of oneness and unity. How blessed we are to be lead by someone so aware and astute.

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