Penny Casselman [00:00:00]:
Now you might say, oh, Penny, this all sounds rose colored glasses. And of course, what, let's just get curious after I experience a failure or ask for help. Oh, how easy. Or just remind myself that it's normal. But in the moment, not so much. Let's remember, you are the director of your life. Please feel all the feels, but don't feel failure because failure is an event. You can feel disappointed.
Penny Casselman [00:00:31]:
You can feel sadness. You can feel frustration. We need to keep the proper labels on what it is we're feeling so that we don't let failure dominate our view and keep us from moving forward. So feel the feels, but don't dwell on them. Welcome to the pivot with passion podcast. Hi. I'm Penny Casselman. I believe everyone is deserving of a phenomenal life.
Penny Casselman [00:01:05]:
Regardless of where you came from, life is what you make of it. And when you learn to pivot with passion, your world explodes with opportunities. Go grab your favorite beverage, and let's shake things up as we explore how to pivot with passion. Hello, director. How are you this week? How did it go? Did you crush it? Did you set some goals, not come out of the park, tick some things off of your list, showed up with intention and purpose, excitement, fun, optimism. That's my hope for you every single week that you show up for yourself, show up for those around you, show up for your future self, because everything you do today impacts your tomorrow. Now maybe you're sitting there thinking, oh, man, last week, not good. Not good at all.
Penny Casselman [00:02:12]:
In fact, I might even deem it a failure. My director, that is what we are talking about today, all about failure and what we do when it happens. So first, I wanna set the stage and just remind us that failure is an event. I think too often when we think about failure, we say it as if we experience it, as if we own that, as if it's a feeling. But failure is not a feeling. Failure is simply a moment in time. And what failure really boils down to is the fact that our expectations for an outcome did not match reality. That's all.
Penny Casselman [00:03:09]:
Expectations didn't meet reality. Perhaps when you think of failure, maybe you have actually said to yourself, I am a failure. Hand raised on this side of the microphone that those words, I can guarantee have passed my lips numerous times throughout my life. What I can tell you now is that after years of studying personal development and attempting every day to show up as the best version of myself, I have learned what I'm sharing with you today, and that is failure is simply an event. Maybe you're thinking I let someone down. It was a bad outcome. I made a bad choice. All of those observations might be true, but it doesn't mean that you, as a person, are a failure.
Penny Casselman [00:04:09]:
One of the biggest historical examples that I can think of when it comes to, quote, failure is Edison. Right? How many times did he create a light bulb that didn't work? Or it did work for maybe 30 seconds. You see, in those instances, each time, his expectation of producing a light bulb that when fed with power would remain on and provide light did not meet the actual reality that it may have done that, but for such a short period of time, it was of use to no one. But with each time, he continued to push, ask questions, get help because he had a vision of what he was going after. He had 100% belief that he could figure it out, and he was willing to take action after action after 100 of, quote, failed attempts. Understanding that failure is simply an event. It is not a feeling, and director know that it is not who you are. Failure is a moment in time.
Penny Casselman [00:05:37]:
And in order to keep yourself moving forward, there are 3 things that we can explore that will help you put things in perspective and keep moving forward towards your phenomenal future. It's time for a clarity cocktail. Today's clarity cocktail comes from no other than Thomas Edison. Here's what he shares. There's a way to do it better. Find it. Nine words. So much wisdom is found in those 9 words that Edison gives us to noodle on and help make our life better.
Penny Casselman [00:06:25]:
When I think about there's a way to do it better, find it 100% supports the idea of not settling for fine, which is the core of a red marker moment. And if you've been with me for a while, oh, don't you know how passionate I am about don't settle for fine because there is phenomenal waiting for you if you choose to embrace it. So often new products to market are born out of not settling for fine. The evolution of the car from an open carriage to an enclosed space to keep you safe from the elements to including a radio, and now touchscreen TVs and even fully electric. We wouldn't have each one of those evolutions if somebody was just fine with what they were driving. I guarantee when Henry Ford was working on the Model T, don't you know that he challenged everyone on his team to do it better. Even when they thought it wasn't possible, he kept pushing. And, director, you can do the same thing in your life.
Penny Casselman [00:07:56]:
At every opportunity that you are given a choice, every morning that you wake up, every evening before you go to bed, you can harness the idea of there's a way to do it better, and I'm gonna find it. For me, I can think about my journey to find a planner that would work for me. Every single year for at least a decade, I would research planners, find 1, try it for a year, and realize I can find one that's a little bit better. Because I knew there were aspects of the planner that either I wasn't using or I wish it had. And so I kept searching, kept searching. Each time wasn't thinking that the planner I had was a failure or that I had failed to use it. It was just necessary for me to find something that worked for me. As you move through this week, reflect on what Thomas Edison gave us.
Penny Casselman [00:09:00]:
There's a way to do it better. Find it. Apply that to whatever it is you might be struggling with, whether it's diet, exercise, maybe it's how you communicate, maybe you're just trying to find a way to reconnect with your friends on a more consistent basis. Anything and everything that you move to accomplish in your life can be done better. You simply need to challenge yourself to find a way to do it better. And now back to the episode. Cheers. Circling back to the idea that failure is simply an event.
Penny Casselman [00:09:44]:
It's not a feeling, and it is certainly not who you are. So I mentioned at the top of the episode that there are three angles that we can look at failure and help move us forward in pursuit of the final goal that we're after. So the first way is to get curious because so often we don't ask the right questions. We might experience a failure event. We might label it as I have failed and never touch it again, when in fact, it's not a reflection of who you are as a person. It is simply not aligned with expectation versus outcome. So could we get curious when we frame a failure, an event where what I expected didn't match up with what really happened? The quality of your life is based on the quality of the questions you ask. When we experience failure, get curious.
Penny Casselman [00:10:55]:
Ask yourself, what didn't go as expected? How could I approach it in a way to get me closer to the outcome I wanted? What might I learn from the experience? Number 2, ask for help. Asking for help is a superpower. I can still remember back in the day when we did not have GPS, when we did not have cell phones, and the only way for me to get somewhere was literally a paper map. I remember sitting at my desk, knowing I had to go to a new destination, and I would write down in excruciating detail every turn, and also notate if you get to this street, you've gone too far. But I also recall when I was not the driver, and the person taking us to the location refused to ask for help when they were lost. What was that? That served no one. Because we were late, then we all got frustrated. Had we just stopped and simply asked anyone for some thoughts on directions? We may not have deemed that night a, quote, failure.
Penny Casselman [00:12:13]:
Another example for me, I've lost count the number of times I have texted my father and said, I need a consult about this project. Because inevitably, when I am doing a DIY project at home, whether it's plumbing or electrical or painting or repair, I don't have the vast knowledge and experience that my dad has had with similar projects. And so I know when I encounter a quote failure in getting something to work, it might simply mean I don't have the full experience needed in order to make the correction and get it to work. So that is one aspect of home DIY that has served me my entire life. Asking for help can catapult you to much better results. And the third thing that you can do is simply remind yourself that failure is normal. Let me remind you. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Garner, Oprah, every single one of those high profile individuals experienced failure.
Penny Casselman [00:13:36]:
And many of them, if you dig into interviews or books and understand their path to get where they are today, because they recognized, maybe they don't say it in such terms, but they recognized that failure was simply an event. It was not who they were, and it was not the end of their quest for their goal. Somehow in their experience, they were able to keep things in perspective, recognize that failure is normal, and it's also one of the best teachers that we have to help us grow in our life. Now you might say, oh, Penny, this all sounds rose colored glasses. And of course, what, let's just get curious after I experience a failure, ask for help, oh, how easy, Or just remind myself that it's normal. But in the moment, not so much. Let's remember, you are the director of your life. Please feel all the feels.
Penny Casselman [00:14:42]:
But don't feel failure. Because failure is an event. You can feel disappointed. You can feel sadness. You can feel frustration. We need to keep the proper labels on what it is we're feeling so that we don't let failure dominate our view and keep us from moving forward. So feel the feels, but don't dwell on them. And lean on these three perspectives to help give you a new frame of reference.
Penny Casselman [00:15:16]:
And again, it's get curious, ask for help, and remind yourself that failure is normal. Director, I hope that this next week you pick up your life script and realize that at the end is something phenomenal, and it's waiting for you to get there. I want you to feel energized by what you can learn between now and the next time we talk. And I want you to take bold action in support of your goals, in support of achieving that phenomenal life because you set the vision, you hold the belief, and you are ready to take action. And I can't wait to talk to you again next week. Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of Pivot with Passion. If you've been feeling stuck, exhausted, or frustrated, this is your permission slip to go grab a red marker and claim the life you desire and deserve. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, and then hop over to rate and review the show on Apple Pod cast.
Penny Casselman [00:16:37]:
Because my goal is to put a red marker in everyone's hand, and I need your help to spread the word and make that happen. Until the next episode, go grab a red marker, Get excited for your future and make your first move to pivot with passion.
