Failure isn’t the opposite of success

 Here’s something no one tells you about failure.

If you failed, congratulations.

Seriously.

Most people don’t fail because they never even try.

From experience, failure usually isn’t a sign of incompetence.

It’s a sign of exposure.

It means:

You put work out there.

You took a risk.

You chose action over comfort.

The people who never fail?

They’re usually stuck perfecting drafts, waiting for permission, or staying quiet so they don’t look foolish.

Progress doesn’t come from getting it right the first time.

It comes from being willing to be wrong in public and learning faster because of it.

Failure isn’t the opposite of success.

Avoiding it is.

source : Chase Dimond

TO KEEP YOUR BRAIN YOUNG

This is the fastest way to keep your brain young:

Be willing to feel stupid again.

The moment you stop learning, you start aging faster.

And I don't mean that metaphorically.

People will often treat learning like something with an end date.

You finish school, you land a job, you figure out how things work...

And then you just... stop.

You settle into what you know because it's comfortable.

Life gets too busy.

But your brain doesn't settle with you.

It's either growing or it's shrinking.

There's no staying the same.

Just take a look at this image.

One brain is active, lit up, building new connections.

The other is dim and slowly fading.

The difference between them isn't age, but simply whether you're still asking it to do new things.

Your brain can keep rewiring itself well into old age.

But only if you give it a reason to.

When you learn something new (a skill, a topic, a different way of thinking),

You build up what's called cognitive reserve.

Think of it like a buffer.

It protects you against dementia, mental decline, and against that foggy feeling that creeps in when you've been coasting too long.

And it doesn't stop there.

Staying curious actually changes how you handle stress and helps regulate your mood.

There's even evidence linking it to better physical health.

People who keep learning tend to stay sharper and healthier for longer.

Now, I'm not saying you need to go back to university.

Learning can look like:

→ Trying a hobby you've never touched before

→ Reading something outside your usual interests

→ Picking up a bit of a new language

→ Taking a short online course

→ Having real conversations with people who see the world differently

It doesn't take huge amounts of time or money.

It just takes being willing to feel like a beginner again.

All these small bits of learning add up.

But remember... so can stagnation.

So I'll leave you with this:

What's one thing you could explore this month that you genuinely know nothing about?

Doesn't have to be big.

Just has to be new.

♻️ Repost to educate someone in your network.

source : Gareth Lloyd for more on health & wellness.

Sunday's THOUGHTFUL Post : Failure isn't the opposite of success.Failure isn't the opposite of success

Sunday's THOUGHTFUL Post

Failure isn't the opposite of success.

It's the material from which success is created.

We always look at people who've made it and assume the path was smoother than it was.

But zoom in on almost any success story and you'll find the same things:

→ Setbacks that felt like endings

→ Stretches where nothing seemed to move

→ Decisions that only made sense in hindsight

That's not a flaw in the process.

That IS the process.

The problem is, most of us expect progress to be linear.

And when things get messy or slow, it feels like something's wrong, even when it's just the middle of the journey.

I've felt this myself.

Looking back at my own path, all the biggest breakthroughs never came when I expected them to.

They only came after months of feeling like I was going in circles.

Work that seemed wasted at the time turned out to be laying the groundwork for what came next.

I couldn't see it then.

But I can see it now.

So if you're in one of those stretches right now, where the direction isn't clear and the progress feels invisible, I'd offer this:

You don't need to see the full picture before you move.

You just need to keep moving.

Direction tends to come from doing, not from waiting.

And if you're still going, even when it's slow, even when it's uncertain...

You're probably closer than it feels.

📷 Image credit: Gareth Lloyd

♻️ Share this to inspire someone in your network.

source: Francesco Gatti, for more.