If at first you don't succeed, find out how

One of the biggest lessons I learnt over the years of striving for my goal was the power of persistence. On my journey towards playing for Australia in the 2000 Olympics, I never would have gotten over the setbacks of injuries and partnership changes without persistence.

Persistence is really just another word for spirit. Everyone has things they dream of becoming. We all experience setbacks and failures along the way. The person with the most persistence, however, always ends up reaching their goal.

It helps to have a clearly defined goal and remaining focused on it. My dream to be an Olympian was like a magnet pulling me through and gave me the courage to keep going for it. Along the way I would often reassess the goals, questioning them and determining if they were really what I wanted. In my heart I believed I was good enough to succeed at the international level and play at the Olympics - even if nobody else did!

Every champion has achieved their personal goal through persistence - persistence in training, persistence through the hard times and even persistence through the good times, striving to be even better.

Michael Jordan needed to call on the power of persistence early in his career. As a sophomore in high school, Jordan was initially cut from his high-school basketball team in Wilmington, N.C. Although Jordan felt heartbroken for a time, this setback compelled him to work even harder and this is what it took for him to realize his dream. Every great athlete has had their fair share of setbacks and it is how you deal with these setbacks or obstacles that will determine your fate.

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback. One can learn the most from one's failures - finding out what didn't work and trying something different will, over time, ultimately lead to success. We do this from the very beginning of our lives learning new skills as a baby. Learning to sit-up, to crawl, to walk, etc. If we gave up on the first attempt at walking, we would all be stuck crawling around. We learn from each attempt, each mistake.

Through-out life then we will get results or outcomes. Some results we like, especially if they match our goals, and some we do not like. Our interpretation or judgement of the results will determine our next step - whether to continue as we are, to make some changes and still strive for our goal, or to change direction.

How do I know that a poor result, or repeated poor result, is an indication to make some modifications and still continue on the same path OR an indication to change course all together??
Firstly, a poor or undesired result is definitely an indication to make some change. It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expect to get a different result. "Perhaps if I just try harder next time!"

The best question we can ask ourselves is "How?" "How can I achieve my desired outcome?" When we pose this question to our unconscious, our unconscious can come up with the correct response when we are open to the answers.

We also need to explore how important the end goal is to us. Is it something that is really what we want? If so, we must continue. Is it something that is achievable? I believe we all have the inner resources to do ANYTHING we set our mind and intention to. Marcus Aurelius said "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also."

What is important is how much you want it. How important is it that you achieve your goal. What is the value to you of achieving the goal? What is the cost to you if you quit now and go on a different path?

Each time you take steps forward and dare to fail, you move closer to your end-goal. Even if it is two steps forward and one step back, you are still getting closer to the goal. Once you expand your awareness to new possibilities, you can never go back to your old limitations.

The picture I like best to describe this is one where you imagine pushing something through a small hole in a wall. There is great resistance in getting through this hole and you may need several attempts to break through. You might even need some help from others to build up enough force to push through the barrier. Once you do push through the resistance goes away and you are into a larger room of possibilities.

Though at times it seems futile to push through a barrier in your life, once you do, it opens yourself up to even greater success, more than you perhaps even imagined.

Annette Huygens Tholen is a former Int'l beach volleyball player and participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. She experienced the difficulties of transition from sport and is now a Master Results Coach and International speaker using her learnings and experience to empower athletes to reproduce emotional and financial success in their life after sport. Annette also gives seminars for the world's biggest NLP Coaching and Training Organization -The Christopher Howard Companies. Visit www.annetteffect.com and sign up for the free mini-E-course.