I know that in these times it is all too easy to focus on failure and the possibility of failure. We are told in many ways every day that we need something more. The advertisers tell us that everything about us could be better and needs improvement. We are told that from head to toe, we are not good enough which many people internalize as some failure on their part. This brief article will help you see that with the right mind-set there is no such thing as failure.

Think about it. They tell us we need us our feet need whatever they are selling from lotions and potions to the most expensive socks, shoes and boots. We are told that our legs need to be strengthened, covered up or hidden. These sellers would have us believe our thighs are too big, too flabby or too skinny; our waistlines are too large, and that we need to have six-pack abs. Other say we need to build our upper body strength and tighten up things we didn’t even know were loose – at least not until they pointed it out. Let’s move up a little bit because they point out that our necks are ugly, flabby or non-existent and that our faces need to be patched up, covered up or just plain restructured by surgery.

Ultimately, for too many people this all ads up to the notion that you or I leave much to be desired and most of us see that as a failure. Is it any wonder that millions of people allow themselves to define success or failure by someone else’s agenda? This illustration from advertising is just one example of how easy it is to get yourself geared up to believe you have failed when in reality you have not failed at all. Instead, you have been sold a bill of goods that benefits someone else at your expense.

Notice that the advertising world relies on the externals to get you to make an internal decision. They focus on something you can see to get you to make a decision to buy their product. The problem is we tend to internalize that external message and start to believe there is some failure or lack on our part.

The same applies in our personal lives. How often have you allowed someone else’s opinion of you determined how you feel about yourself? How many times have you held off or held back on your dreams because you allowed some external factor or somebody to put the idea of failure in front of you. Externals must never define failure, not other people, advertising, or even you’re past disappointments.

There is no such thing as failure for anyone who believes in him or herself. The one who believes that they have it in them to do anything but fail will hear what others say and leave it right there – on the outside. Don’t internalize somebody else’s reality and make it your own and you will be failure-proof. You cannot fail in things that are external to you and about which you have no control. In other worlds you fail only if you believe it is possible for you.

There is no failure for one who knows that so-called failures give us a chance to start again. Think about how many times a baby falls as it is learning how to walk – many, many times they fall, but they get right back up! You were that baby! I was that baby! We knew there was no such thing as failure. There is no such thing as failure for those who believe that if we keep getting up one day we will succeed, we will walk, we will run, we will accomplish all of our goals.

Remind yourself every day that you are a success because success is in you. All you have to do is believe it and act upon it. Remember: There’s no such thing as failure.