How do you motivate yourself every time you failed at something?

I'm not big into the philosophy mumbo jumbo so, my tip might be too simple...

Go into every project knowing that you might fail - Everything you do isn't going to be a home run. I don't think anyone succeeds 100% of the time, more than likely, you will be no different.

Cut your losses the minute you realize it is a losing battle

Have more than 1 project going on at once - More projects leaves the gate open for even a small success which will likely motivate you enough to keep pushing forward.

Failure is expensive but it make me stronger because I'll learn something on it.
The more times that I've failed will mean more experience that I've gained, the more money it will bring to my pocket.

When you say you've failed do you mean the results of your endeavours / projects were significantly less than what you expected?

Or do you mean you failed to see projects through to completion.

Either way you need to extract some positives from the situation by trying and identify what you did wrong and making sure you don't do it again.

I spent over a year failing - long before I even joined this forum - although I browsed as a guest for a quite a while!

My advice...

Fail as fast as is possible.

Why?

Because so many people theorise on:

What would happen if I did...?
How do I drive traffic to...?
What's the best way of creating...?

Just take action and do it and don't forget to track your results then you can ensure you identify your mistakes and not repeat them.

In any business, online or offline, you never know the outcome of any technical strategy unless you take action and try it out for yourself.

Hope this helps.

Garry.

I agree with Jeremy, to a point. It's always good to have more than one project going at a time. Having said that, I have a REALLY hard time focusing on more than one thing. What I've done in order to make sure I stay on track is buy a HUGE dry-erase board, write each project down and the steps needed to complete it. That way, I can still do what I feel like doing that day, but it's organized in a way that helps me finish steps that actually NEED to be completed....instead of spinning my wheels on something unnecessary. When I finish a step, it gets crossed out. When I finish a project, it gets erased.

Also, I've always believed that failure is just another way of knowing how something won't work.

Trite sayings and cliches!

Nobody ever made a comeback after winning!

Fall down seven times, get up eight!

The universe is teaching me a lesson!

I am sure glad we are not having a thousand monkeys!

Oh, wait, there are only about a dozen people on the planet who understand that last one. Let me explain.

My business partner and I were sitting around one day in 2000 or so, discussing how bad different programming failures were, and we came up with the monkey indicator. So we could look at somebody's code and say "hmm, three monkeys" and smile knowingly at one another.

Now, you would think that the monkey indicator is how many monkeys it would take to write the code, but you'd be wrong. The monkey indicator is how many monkeys should hump you in the butt as punishment for writing this code.

We established as part of the standard that the monkey scale went to a thousand, and then our contractors picked up on it, so it became part of our "secret language." We'd be talking to a client, and a developer would say "we can deliver this component in two weeks." Then one of the leads or managers would say "no monkey?" and the developer might say "no monkey" if the component was near-done, or he'd say "maybe two or three monkeys" if he had a hairy bug to hack around, or something like that.

Or the client would demand a component by a specific date, and the developer would shake his head and say "fifty monkeys" to indicate that his code would have to be that bad to ship on that date. A thousand monkeys effectively means "if we ship this code, the project will be cancelled and we will lose the client and he will tell everyone he knows how much we suck."

So whenever we would truly, seriously fsck something up so much that it rated a thousand monkeys, our "look on the bright side" comment was always "it's a good thing we don't have a thousand monkeys!"

One day, we had a huge meltdown with a client, and he stormed out of the meeting swearing that he would see to it we never worked in this industry again. During the stunned silence after this, one of our contractors... for whom English was not a first language... quietly and calmly said "I am sure glad we are not having a thousand monkeys."

We laughed hysterically for about half an hour.

And that's the way we always said it from that point forward.

What a pointless story.

So, um, to drag this back on topic... there's this old saying, "one day we'll look back on this and laugh." What are you waiting for? If it's going to be funny tomorrow, why isn't it funny today? Laughing at things gives you power over them.

It's why people tell jokes about the things that scare them, like gay monkey rape. When you wake up screaming night after night because you dreamed you were being raped by a gay monkey, you make jokes about it to prove that you're stronger than gay monkey rape and it has no power over you.

There is no failure. Unless you think there is.

It's more preferable to say something like,

"Such and such didn't work yet. I'll find out why and make it work".

Sam

I chalk it up as a learning experience for the next time, identify and correct my errors and move on. I also find that if I spend too much time doing something, such as writing an ebook, I'm probably doing something wrong. Probably trying to develop a perfect product, which is not going to happen anytime soon, LOL!

Don't enter 2010 expecting that you will not be failing. We live in failures day in day out.

But you know what, the sum of all your failures will be your success.

So If you fail in something in 2010, don't give up, but just line it up as an upgrade for your future success.

The more you fail, the greater your chance is for succeeding, because by failing your are eliminating the wrong turns.

Just remember this example:

Getting Success is like Getting Trough a Big Maze.. there are many doors from wich you can start from, but how big is your chance in getting the right door within the first try?

Well, pretty low, depending on the number of doors.
But after you got to an deadend in the maze, just eliminate the door you just tried and try the other ones.
Your chance for getting the right door with get bigger and bigger.

So for 2010, lets face Our Big Mazes and find the Right Door.


(Tip for Noobs: Stop hopping from program to program and focus on one MAZE. One maze may have a lots of doors, how worse, you trying lots of mazes at the same time? Focus, Focus and Focus guys.)

Happy New Year to All
Bless

Greetings

That is so full of awesome, I can't even stand it.

2009 was a bad year for me as well.

I think I had a job maybe 3 months out of the year, and barely made anything more than $500 in IM.

But hell, lifes full of disappointments. The only way that 2010 can't possibly be better is if I become a hobo next year. But like hell will I let that happen.

To motivate yourself is simple, say you want to make it happen, that one thing didn't quite work, lets try something else.

Or try it from a different angle.

I just am very stubborn about what I do and how I do it. If It doesn't work, I get pissed, cuss, and try another way.

Like Jeremy said, think of the end result, not the little failures that happen during your quest.

-Sean

I had lost all my money last year, I came down with some medical issues that were not life threatening, but held me back and really put me down. I read the book "How to stop worrying and Start Living." It taught me to take it day by day, to make each day an "air-tight compartment" not to look to tomorrow or think about the failures of the previous day. This has REALLY changed my life, I read excerpts from the book every now and then. I'm making around $30,000 a month now and about to launch my new venture. I recommend EVERYONE to read that book.

Failure? Just means you aren't done yet. Just because you decided that something was done, doesn't mean is. It just means your work plans ran out short of a finished project. Once it's done it doesn't fail. Treat it like anything else that you have done that didn't fail. I'm sure you thought you were about there on something else at one time or other, then realized you forgot something, or something wasn't just right and just fixed it without a lot of wondering.

"Quit worrying about not knowing what you are doing and just do it" (unknown)

Hi there ebizman87! I'm new to the Im scene and just started on this area only several months back... I totally understand how you feel as i have faced countless challenges in my efforts to make money online. Until today, i still face countless difficulties, but i look to it as a challenge to myself to break out of my comfort zone...

Think about it, we only learn through experience, so don't look at dispapointments as failures, look to them as learning experiences on what is not working... Perhaps we should continue to work on a sigle aspect of our IM business before moving on to ohers

Normally if I fail I think:

Well I must have done something wrong.. what was it!?

And then.. I try to figure out.. what I can do better the next time.
Failures for me are opportunities of learning. You can actually learn
more from a failure.. than from a success.

I never give up.. with a failure. And my mind is wired to think in
a different way everytime. Even if things are really ****ed my mind
is asking "What can I do to make this work!?","How can I make this
work!?"

That is what you have to do always. In my opinion.

The key is to have one thing that you can do that never fails. Mine is article writing and submission.

For others, it would be that CPA offer that does well on a PPC offer or a product that consistently sells for them.

In regard to my article writing, if I write articles and submit them to get traffic to my sites, I make a daily income. If I write more, and submit more, I make more.

On the side, I do other projects, some of which succeed and others that fail. These failures mean nothing to me other than act as guidelines for what not to do.

Because I have my consistent base of income being generated, I just keep going because everything else, in my mind, is simply testing.

No method or process. For me. I just keep going no matter what. As long as I'm breathing and able bodied, I'll keep moving ahead. I have certainly had my failures but It almost never get's me down to a point that I stop moving. I will not play myself short like that.

Life is really a fantastic voyage, some people have it better than others. That's the nature of the best. But be sure to keep your eyes on the prize.

If I stop now, I'll never know if I could have made it.

Maybe not the best way but if I start thinking about the failures, I can guarantee COMPLETE and TOTAL failure.


Keep going........

One thing that has helped me stay focus on what I want is emtional freedom technique. You basically tap out your negative emotions that distract you from achieving your goals, and fearing failure. Any fear you have you can eliminate it with EFT (emotional freedom technique.)

Try it out, and it will change your life.

Gay monkey rape? Hahaha

Anyway, just try and have alot self belief. Believe you can overcome it, and you will

It's very unlikely that "everything" you will do will fail.

It's true that in IM a good plan and strategy is a must - but the way to success is often full with so called "fails". Those "fails" are actually good since they help you to weed out what works and what doesn't. Ultimately, you will get to a point where something works.

Sometimes it can take longer, sometimes not long at all. If you have a working plan right away this is great - but its more likely that it takes a few attempts.

The motivation comes automatically. This can be the $$ on your paypal/clickbank account - and it can be people and customers telling you they like what you provide for them. (BIG motivation!)

Furthermore, one big factor is that i personally have "fun" doing what i am doing...i am always motivated...sometimes its simply the challenge which gets me going. (For example ranking a site for a very good but competitive keyword, things like that.)

Thanks for all the feedback and support.

Wish I can thank all the contributors here but I ran out of "thanks" today.

I'll seriously consider all the advice, recommendation and brush up my mind for the new year.

Thanks again WARRIORS. Happy New Year

it is all a matter of keeping your bottom line... what is really important for you?

for me, breathing... no, I mean it.

when I was lil I was asthmatic, seriously emotionally asthmatic.

like my dad was asthmatic too and kind of addicted to the medication, my mom decided that I was never going to have it, no matter how bad the attack was.

I felt like dying more than once.

One day, I went to see a doctor. He was an endocrinologyst, and he was not even working with patients but was doing research.

not sure how i ended up there...

Anyway... he told me something that set me free...

he said: no matter how much you feel you are dying, you have 6 minutes before dying. And you only need 30 secs to take the air out and let some air get into your lungs.

you only need to be able to control the panic attack. I was 11 years old.

and I did it... after a while the asthma disappeared altogether.

and no matter what, as long as I can breath... it is all good.

so if you get seriously discouraged about a roadblock, is, maybe because you are giving it more importance than it really has...

if you keep the bottom line and have faith in your own strength, there is no reason to get discouraged.

One handy trick is: always look for something to be thankful for, and grab it with both hands. That will put you in the right emotional state. And from there just stand up, take the dust out, smile and keep going.

Laura

The Main Motivation should always be the Fear of Not Acheiving your Goals and 2nd think about the Pleasure you will gain when Achieving your Goals.

thinking about those 2 things will help you go through your failure. especially when you understand "failure" is a necessary step forward for everyone.

To be honest, though it may be hard, you must keep pushing forward. Sometimes efforts may fail, but try, try, try again.

I think about where I am now, where I have been, and ultimately where I want to go. This is an important part of success; to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Great question, you just need to go into your projects knowing that while there may be a possibility of failure, there is always something to be learned from the experience no matter what happens. The key is to take heart in that and derive some knowledge from your failures, and use that to approach things differently the next time around.

Focus on what is learned instead of beating yourself up over a failure. I always remind myself of Thomas Edison's story (which I'm sure everyone here knows and consequently don't need to regurgitate), and how I could be very close to a breakthrough - this really spurs me on when working on tough projects, and I become like the dog that just won't let go of his bone!

In addition to that, you must have some grand vision of what you want to accomplish and be, as this will provide the passion and drive you'll need when the times get tough, which they surely will. It's not a question of IF, it's just a question of WHEN! Without that vision you're likely to give up at the first few signs of difficulty, this is why it's so important to have a clearly defined vision that you can revisit whenever you need to.

Hello Warriors

I have read all these post, it is great advise. I have been struggling with this for about a month. Always thinking I will never get this done. I had so many emails that would distract me on what my mission was for the day. I will now focus on one, two or three things daily ontil complete.

Laura

When I first started in IM, I was full of buzz and really placed no expectations on myself. I knew I had sooo much to learn and would get there one day.

Time went on and nothing was happening, others seemed to be bragging about all the $ they were making and I became really despondent, but I kept my vision. I knew where I wanted to be and that it would happen one day.

I quickly realised that whatever anyone else is doing and how much they are making, there is only one of them and what works for them may not work for me and vice versa.

Now I just concentrate on being me, I take on board the learning given to me and implement the strategies and it's working.

I may have taken longer than some but one thing I do know is that I did it the way that was right for me. My morals and ethics are intact and I have not, and never will scam anyone.

So I think what works for me is a positive mindset and a strong vision and ambition to succeed.

I wish you all every success with your own business as we head forwards now into 2010.

All the best
Trish

Hmmm Just do it again with a smile.

I love to discover new stuff and test new ideas, so, no problem:

If I fail, I just do it till I get it.

Staying motivated is a real challenge for anyone who works for themselves, and is most especially vexing for IMers.

I'll be honest here and say there are days that I am completely unproductive because I'm completely unmotivated and depressed. What gets me going again is thinking about the alternative: having to find work in a market that is completely saturated with people looking for work and more than that, returning to having a boss, commuting at least an hour one way, etc.

If you've failed 200 times, then you now know 200 methods that did not work for you. Use it as a learning experience that you can always share with others to help them along the way. If nothing else, you will at least have a better understanding about why those things did not work. Think about people before you who tried and failed miserably such as the Wright brothers. Imagine the ridicule they must have endured? How about Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, or Alexander Graham Bell? They never gave up. If they were successful in the face of opposition, then so could you.