What are we learning today?

This is my third article on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Presupposition.

In this write-up, I will be exploring the presupposition, ‘There is no failure, only feedback’. This is one of the most useful presuppositions as it helps us in looking at ‘failure’ a bit differently. There are several explanations available, but I like Owen Fitzpatrick’s description. In his book ‘The Charismatic Edge’ Owen says “Remember failure is a concept that was created by someone at some time in the past. It doesn’t exist. All that happens when you ‘fail’ is that you don’t happen to get the result you wanted. Instead, you get a different result. Therefore, you simply receive the information that what you did didn’t work and that you need to try something else. Failure is just feedback that can help you become more successful, and every time you don’t succeed is a rare and unprecedented opportunity to learn something new.”

I have seen this presupposition followed diligently by many dedicated and successful sports persons. If they lose a game or a match, they work with their Coach to identify the gaps and train harder to bridge the gaps to make an awesome comeback in the next game/match. They work with the belief that every failure is a feedback to do better next time.

By way of illustrations, watch PV Sindhu’s interview (Badminton Player who is currently the world no. 4 in the BWF World ranking) after she won the silver medal (she lost the gold medal to the Nozomi Okuhara of Japan) at BWF championship at Gasglow in the month of August 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjictw9FwEc.

Within a month Sindhu has made an amazing comeback by becoming the first Indian badminton player to lift the title in Korea after she beat Nozomi Okuhara in the women’s singles final at Korea Open Super series in Seoul on 17^th September 2017.

Though it’s easy to understand the presupposition, to believe and practice could be a challenge. As a Coach, to help my clients, create a powerful belief that “There is no failure, but only feedback”, I ask them to do following assignments:

1. Talk to 4 people you know and ask them about your strengths. Share your experiences
2. Talk to 4 people you know and ask them about your areas of improvement. Share your experiences.
3. Write your success stories. Share your experiences (your feeling and thoughts) and learnings. Also, write as to how you would apply the learnings in your personal and professional life.
4. Write about your failures. Share your experience (your feelings and thoughts) and learnings. Also, write as to how you would apply the leanings in your personal and professional life.

As you would have guessed, working on assignment No. 2 and No. 4 could be a challenge, but it does give my clients a different perspective and possibilities.

Try these assignments and share your experiences in the comments section below.