Don’t Focus on Today’s Failures, Focus on Your Long-Term Successes

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Abstract

e, I could play the song silently. Then with my eyes closed. And then silently, with my eyes closed.</p><h2 id="e9a0">Why are you so worried about today?</h2><p id="107c">Before I learned this lesson, I stressed about the little things. A typo in my work email. Too many people at the gym taking up space. Having too much clutter in my home. I feel stressed just thinking about the stress I went through.</p><p id="2e48">But the mistakes and failures that I have (and you may have) every day aren’t important in the long run. In fact, I think about the list of failures I have:</p><ul><li>Terrible work mistake copying and pasting from one spreadsheet to another</li><li>Terrible work mistake copying and pasting from a PDF to a spreadsheet to do calculations</li><li>Many spelling and grammatical mistakes in cover letters and resumes I have sent out</li><li>Not saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the right opportunities</li><li>Doing things differently in relationships</li></ul><div id="1f7b" class="link-block"> <a href="https://wangyip.medium.com/how-to-let-go-of-the-fear-of-failure-that-is-holding-you-back-from-success-90ff9eab3f68"> <div> <div> <h2>How to Let Go of the Fear of Failure That Is Holding You Back From Success</h2> <div><h3>A thought experiment and strategies from Jia Jiang, Tina Seelig, and Tim Ferriss</h3></div> <div><p>wangyip.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*80d_NYydcdpy5xrX)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="fdb2">At the time, I felt like those mistakes were the end of my career. Or the end of the opportunities I would get. But time can give

Options

you the right perspective.</p><h2 id="443a">Focus on the long term</h2><p id="01c4">So instead of worrying about what happens on any particular day, what should you worry about? Well, focus on the long-term, but specifically, making sure your life is improving slowly and surely, i.e., your successes outweigh your mistakes and failures.</p><p id="6874">My days could be a complete waste of time, sitting in front of the computer, watching Netflix all day, eating junk food, but if I read, wrote, journaled, and exercised that day, I would call it a success (and especially if I’m consistent).</p><p id="abc0">I have come back from work thinking I would be fired the next day. I made egregious errors, botching analyses, spelling names wrong, or sending low-quality deliverables to clients. But I made more money every year. I was promoted to higher positions. All because I had a lot more successes than failures.</p><h2 id="d678">Final thoughts</h2><p id="6a17">I’ll make it easy for you, the takeaways are:</p><ul><li>Mistakes do not matter on a day-to-day basis</li><li>Make sure you have more successes than mistakes</li></ul><p id="54c9">Your life isn’t over if you say dumb things to the hot girl at the bar. And you aren’t going to get fired for replying to all in a random email sent out at work. Your finances aren’t going down the drain if you don’t buy the stock at the lowest it will get (or sell the stock at its highest).</p><p id="5393">Just as long as you have more successes than mistakes. You only need one hot girl to say yes to your date to get a relationship. You make sure the big projects are completed on time and budget. You buy stocks, hold them for a LONG time, and then sell them, not worrying about the 305% return you could have gotten, compared to the 300% return you got.</p></article></body>

Why you shouldn’t worry too much about whether you succeed or fail on any particular day

When I was young, my Mom signed me up for piano lessons. At the start of the ‘piano year’, my teacher and I would decide on what songs I would try to learn for the exams at the end of the year. I say ‘piano year’ because the start dates are arbitrary, though typically, it would take about 1–2 years of practice for each level. I picked songs that caught my ear — I mean if you’re going to be playing these songs hundreds of times, you will probably want to play a song you like listening to.

Going up the piano grades (I finished grade 10 piano), I remember how intimidating it was to be listening to my teacher play the songs and then me trying to play them at home. Every day, I would spend hours trying to play the songs and failing. I would make a mistake here. I would play the wrong note there. I would forget about the change in tempo. Slowly, but surely, the song would come together. I could play the song, albeit slowly. And then I would know how to play the song without looking at the sheet music. And then I could play the song a little faster. Then at the right tempo. And then, with more practice, I could play the song silently. Then with my eyes closed. And then silently, with my eyes closed.

Why are you so worried about today?

Before I learned this lesson, I stressed about the little things. A typo in my work email. Too many people at the gym taking up space. Having too much clutter in my home. I feel stressed just thinking about the stress I went through.

But the mistakes and failures that I have (and you may have) every day aren’t important in the long run. In fact, I think about the list of failures I have:

Terrible work mistake copying and pasting from one spreadsheet to another

Terrible work mistake copying and pasting from a PDF to a spreadsheet to do calculations

Many spelling and grammatical mistakes in cover letters and resumes I have sent out

Not saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the right opportunities

Doing things differently in relationships

At the time, I felt like those mistakes were the end of my career. Or the end of the opportunities I would get. But time can give you the right perspective.

Focus on the long term

So instead of worrying about what happens on any particular day, what should you worry about? Well, focus on the long-term, but specifically, making sure your life is improving slowly and surely, i.e., your successes outweigh your mistakes and failures.

My days could be a complete waste of time, sitting in front of the computer, watching Netflix all day, eating junk food, but if I read, wrote, journaled, and exercised that day, I would call it a success (and especially if I’m consistent).

I have come back from work thinking I would be fired the next day. I made egregious errors, botching analyses, spelling names wrong, or sending low-quality deliverables to clients. But I made more money every year. I was promoted to higher positions. All because I had a lot more successes than failures.

Final thoughts

I’ll make it easy for you, the takeaways are:

Mistakes do not matter on a day-to-day basis

Make sure you have more successes than mistakes

Your life isn’t over if you say dumb things to the hot girl at the bar. And you aren’t going to get fired for replying to all in a random email sent out at work. Your finances aren’t going down the drain if you don’t buy the stock at the lowest it will get (or sell the stock at its highest).

Just as long as you have more successes than mistakes. You only need one hot girl to say yes to your date to get a relationship. You make sure the big projects are completed on time and budget. You buy stocks, hold them for a LONG time, and then sell them, not worrying about the 305% return you could have gotten, compared to the 300% return you got.