Micro Failures

Are you afraid you will fail?

Yes, all of us are.

All of us are afraid that we will fail... someday.

We spend a lot of time worrying.

We think about what we should do to avoid that failure.

So we look for safety. In relationships, in careers, in investments, and so on.

A lot of time goes into thinking about avoiding failure.

We think about it, and we run away from risk.

We see people who have failed, we look at their end result, and we try to avoid doing the things that led them to that failure.

A guy loses his girl, someone loses all their investment in a business, and someone loses their health. We think that these failures happen because they were unlucky and we pray that we do not have that bad luck.

We pray for good luck.

But I am going to tell you a hard thing.

It will be a bitter pill to swallow.

No one, not you, not me, not them, fails "someday".

The failures that you see are a collection of micro failures.

A 50 yr old guy that gets a heart attack because he has not been working out and keeping himself healthy is not... unlucky.

He failed every day.

Every day he chose not to work out, he failed.

Every day he chose not to eat healthy foods, he failed.

Every day he chose to take more stress in life for short-term gains, he failed.

He kept failing every day and the failures compounded. It results in one big failed event which becomes visible to the world.

What is not visible is the micro failures.

A guy who gets fired from his job didn't fail the day he got fired.

Every day he chose not to show up early to his job, he failed.

Every day he chose not to take up important tasks at work and became lazy, he failed.

Every day he chose not to up-skill and become more important for the company he works for, he failed.

His failures compounded, day by day until the employer couldn't take it anymore, and the big failure happens.

Love fails the same way. One argument at a time. One day at a time.

Realizing that failure happens as micro-failures compounded into a big failure is important. Because the truth is: every day is a battle.

Every day, you choose to fail or succeed. It is your choice.

You choose it.

Choose to win every day, success will choose you, someday.

Choose to fail every day, failure will choose you, someday.

Until you realize this, you are not going to stop overthinking... and start overdoing.

Every day you choose to sleep a bit more and not wake up early, you fail.

Every day you choose not to eat healthily, you fail.

Every day you choose not to exercise, you fail.

Every day you choose not to spend enough time with family, you fail.

Every day you choose not to work, and "chill", you fail.

Failure happens on a daily basis. Not someday in the future.

And in most cases, bad luck has nothing to with the failure.

If you failed because it is bad luck, it is not failure but fate. Fate is acceptable, but not failure.

On the flip side...

You don't win in life "someday".

Winning in the relationship game is not about "marrying your dream girl".

Winning in a relationship happens on a daily basis.

Every day you choose to give instead of taking, you build it.

Every time you do a sweet gesture, you build it.

Every time you appreciate each other, you build it.

That's why it is called "building a relationship".

You build it, one day at a time.

You win it one day at a time.

You prevent it from failure, one day at a time.

Every day you decide to wake up early and go to the gym, you win. You "build" your body, one day at a time. You build it, by winning the battle, one day at a time.

Every day you choose to say no to junk food, you win.

Every time you choose to say no to taking the lift and choosing the stairs, you win.

Micro successes in your journey of health are what will make you win in fitness.

The same goes for your career.

Every day, you choose to write a blog post, you win.

Every day you choose to make a video, you win.

Every day you choose to learn something new, you win.

Success in business and career is not made by one big event.

The big event is a result of the micro-successes that you accumulate day by day.

I am writing this content on a Friday evening, that too on a long weekend, while most of the world is "take the long weekend off". Just because I love writing, that doesn't mean that I am drawn to it. It is still hard work and effort - at least to get started with the work.

But given a choice between not doing anything productive today vs. getting some work done, I will always choose to get something done because that win is needed for me to sleep well at night.

All I am concerned about is winning the day.

I know a big success someday will come if I keep winning my days.

Win your days, that's all it takes.

Don't lose the streak.

Make a commitment to yourself that you will win your days, and don't break them.

If you break your commitments, you will not respect yourself.

If people break commitments to you, you lose respect for them. But how many commitments you have made to yourself that you break on a daily basis?

Every time you don't keep a promise to yourself, you fail.

Every time you choose the easy path, you lose respect for yourself.

It will eventually manifest in a big failure.

But...

If you decide to take the effort and choose to keep up the commitments to yourself, at least for the day, you will win for the day. And that's more than enough for the day.

You do the same win the next day, and the next, and the next, and eventually your micro-successes will compound to give you a big success.

Don't overthink.

Instead, overdo.

The best way to learn something is to do it and see the results of it, then iterate it, to see the results again. That is when you are learning about the true nature of things around you in the world.

Build your success, one day at a time.

Do a little bit for your relationships.

Do a little bit for your health.

Do a little bit for your career.

Do a little bit for your investments.

Do a little bit for giving back to the world.

A little bit, a little bit, here and there... you win one day at a time.

You can choose to do something daily. Even if it is late in the day, you can choose to do something for the hour.

Do 10 squats or 10 pushups (and resist laziness).

Talk to an old friend (and resist toxic people).

Learn something new from a book (and resist watching TV).

Do some work (and resist distracting yourself with social media).

Win the hour, if not the day.

Win the day, if not the week.

Win the week, if not the month.

Win the month, if not the year.

Win the year, if not the decade.

Win the decade, if not your life.

Win this life, if not all your past lives.

See, it doesn't matter what happened in your past...

You could've been a sloth until now...

You could've ended up single and lonely...

You could've been a lazy person at work until now...

You could've made wrong investments

You could've failed in a business.

But none of that matters.

Your failures until now, don't make you fail for the next hour, day, week, or month.

Your past failures have nothing to do with your next failure.

The only reason you will fail in the future is that you give up. You choose to fail.

You don't choose to fight the battle.

You have worn the identity of a failed person.

Convinced yourself that you are not a successful person, or a person capable of success.

That's why you want to keep that identity. And that's why you fail.

Changing how you identify yourself is hard. But it is worth it. You can change it, one day at a time.

You fail because you don't get up your butt, and get something done, to win, the next hour or the next day.

It can just take one mail to change your life around. This could be that email.

You could win the next hour, by getting up and doing something, to build your future. Will you?

That small win could lead to winning the day, the week, the month, and so on.

We fight every day, every hour, every minute.

Stop overthinking and start doing.

You have one life.

You don't want to live in regret, that you didn't live up to your full potential.

Big success will come one day. Stop thinking about it.

Instead, think about how you're going to win the next hour and the next day.

That's all you need to think about.

I wish you success. From the bottom of my heart.

Cheers,
Deepak Kanakaraju