Reflecting More On My Achievements And Less On My Failures

One thing I’ve noticed, is my tendency to only focus on the negative outcome of failing at something positive I’ve achieved in the past. When I do that, I rarely reflect & repeat what I did right initially because I exhaust myself overthinking about what I’ve done wrong. This usually leads to me feeling like I’m not good enough, feeling to give up, having self-doubt, heavily procrastinating, whilst my mental health deteriorates.

(N.B. When you make a mistake, learn to appreciate the lesson learnt... don’t undermine its value or give up, unless it will become a repeat burden rather than a preparation for a bigger blessing)

For example, I did a club event with my previous company last year October (2018). It didn’t go to plan and ended up being our worst event done over the last three years (since we first started). After this event, I ended up overthinking about what went wrong, then down the line, I decided I didn’t want to do events ever again. This decision was irrational, unwise & something I may have regretted. Why? because I was too focused on how terrible this one event was, I failed to see how I can do it better by just reflecting on how I previously did it successfully. Instead, I was prepared to quit doing events overall. (Although, It was partly one of my reasons for leaving the actual company but i now do events with a new company I co-founded)

(N.B. As opposed to focusing on the negative impact of failing at something you’ve achieved in the past, reflect on the successful steps you took to gain that first initial achievement)

Cool, let’s test this theory out. I’ll briefly (try to lol) reflect on how I first achieved a successful event:

The first student event I did, was back in October (2015) with my friends (@only1marvellous, @samson_hed & @dk_barbers on instagram). We had little to no experience in events, but decided we were going to do a 1200 plus capacity event. If that isn’t wild enough, we had just 4 weeks to plan & execute it (lol). Anyway, we did our research and within a week, we secured a venue, had a name for the event (#NoRestrictionsNotts - check below for recap video), a company name, made our logo etc. Created social media pages, booked 10 Djs, created flyers etc. We now had 3 weeks left to promote it but then found out there is a big event on the same day as ours (lol).

Despite this, we still decided to do the event. This led to 2 of us not going uni for the 3 weeks left. I quit my job, then we went to different cities to flyer a lot of accommodations, gave away free tickets, did a lot of cheap ticket deals, booked 2 artists, threw a few house parties to do promo at etc. Fast forward to 3 days before the event, we had only sold 300 out of 1200 tickets. We still kept promoting hard & even bought 3 segways to giveaway. That said, on the night, we ended up selling over 700+ tickets for our first ever event! (Crazy right in just 3/4 weeks)

Subsequently, we applied the exact same tactics, mindset, work ethic & mainly with faith in God, we sold out the venue 3 months later in January, 2016 (1200+ tickets)

(N.B. When you reflect on your achievements, note down how far you went to achieve it & compare if you apply that same work rate/mindset now)

As a result of reflecting on past achievements, I now understand, it was the passion, the determination to succeed, the effectiveness of quick decision making, hard work, creativity, consistency & sacrifices made, that enabled success of those first 2 events (well 4 in total). Its like a refresher/reminder of the mindset I had at the time & gives me reassurance that, if I apply that same mindset to anything I do, I will be unstoppable and achieve even greater things.

(N.B. Once you tap into that formula/mindset you previously used to achieve things, add more elements to it, then re-apply it & repeat that process over n over n over again till you exhaust that formula)

Here is a summary of what I’ve figured after reflecting on my past achievements:

•I need to revise my goals. Will it really take me 2 years to achieve some of my goals? Or can I actually achieve it within a month or 2?

•Strive for a bar higher than my comfort zone but not too high it’s impossible to reach I.e. as opposed to aiming for a 200 capacity venue (which is the norm for a start up event) my first club event, we set a bar to get a 1200 capacity venue. This puts us in a position to get a minimum of 200 which would have been the maximum if we went for a 200 capacity venue to start. Apply that mindset to your everyday life & you will always do better than the normal expectation & draw closer to your goals quicker.

•Not wasting time overthinking a failure. If you have an idea, don’t find all the reasons why you can’t, think of all the reasons why you can & why you will. In addition, don't allow failed team decisions, allow you to see yourself as a failure, especially when you know your thoughts would've been the right decision. Let that encourage you, to be firm in your viewpoint & be more vocal about what you truly believe in.

•Whatever you decide to do or get involved in, do it to the best of your ability, even when the results seem low. If you can learn to do your best at what you don’t really like, imagine your capabilities when doing something you love. Practice that mindset from now, so you can maintain that discipline & consistency long term. Moreover, it prepares you for the future to avoid giving up & even if you do, you will be disciplined enough to get back on track shortly after.

•Lastly, when you feel like you’re losing your momentum & high work rate mindset. Think back to your greatest achievement & refill yourself up with how you achieved it.

(N.B. Learn to always show gratitude for what you have achieved & smile about it. When things don't go to plan, don't look back at your past achievements with envy but rather as a sign that you can actually do it again!)

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What are you proud of that you have achieved in the past?

2. What did you have to do to achieve it?

3. What have you learnt from that experience?

4. Think about that mindset you had then & ask yourself ‘how can I currently apply it?

#NoRestrictionsNotts Recap Video (second event done) - https://youtu.be/lUhY6-BbQkA

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Follow my journey on Instagram @Davidologunja