Asking "What did I fail at today?" has to be one of the weirdest questions to pose to yourself when you're on your career journey.
I mean seriously, who wants to relive their failures at the end of the day? I absolutely hated asking myself this question when I started doing it, because I only focused on how shortsighted I was about that thing, or how I missed something completely obvious, but it wasn't until a few times of doing this that I actually realized that this reflection wasn't to beat myself up, it was to build myself up, learn, and grow consistently in my career.
Asking yourself this question can seem off putting at first, but it's meant to nudge you to take the initiative, come out of your comfort zone and explore new learning pathways. It requires you to take a swing and a miss, but then actually learn from that miss and how you can correct for the next time at bat that hopefully results in a home run. Being honest with yourself at the end of the day this way also allows you to create goals and build a path for yourself where you can see growth more clearly and consistently, because if you're failing at something, you'll always have something to improve on.
We're all a work in progress, and shying away from that work is the last thing you should be doing if you'd like to grow in your field of expertise. No one is above making mistakes and learning from them, its how the best in their field got to where they are, no matter the discipline or industry. Being able to understand that the obstacles you run into are stepping stones on the way up to the mountain top of personal success, whatever that means for you, is so so important and a mindset shift that few will adopt for the long term.
Knowing where you're going is only half the battle, knowing where you've been and learning from those previous journeys is the other half, so please ask yourself, at least today, "What did I fail at today?".
Thanks for reading
(Cover Photo by the blowup on Unsplash)