Failure sucks.
Experiencing letdown, setback, hardship – to work towards something with all of your energy and have your results be suboptimal at best, disastrous at worst.
It’s impossible not to feel defeated in a moment like that – like all of your hard work was for nothing, and like you were taking one step up on the staircase towards your vision only to take two steps back – or to stumble down it.
But those moments are necessary for outlier success – in fact, they’re mandatory.
It’s hard to see it when it happens, but there is no traversing the path you’re on without running into a few walls, taking a few wrong turns, or falling into a couple of traps.
In fact, that’s the only thing that makes outlier success exactly that. If the waters were only ever smooth sailing, everyone would sail them – and achieving what you are setting out to achieve would become far less meaningful if anyone and everyone had what it takes to achieve it.
The path towards success – however you choose to define it – is paved by both victory and defeat.
There is no experience of one without the experience of the other, there is no satisfaction in victory if the possibility of defeat doesn’t exist, and there is no victory if the lessons needed to achieve it – lessons only taught by failing – are not acquired.
It isn’t the avoidance of failure that leads to success, but the strength of your conviction in the face of it that does.
Responding to setbacks with a willingness to pick yourself up and keep moving forward is the fertile soil where seeds of genuine success are sown.
But that doesn’t change the fact that failing sucks – and so today, we’ll be exploring the transformative power of conviction as a catalyst for personal growth, achievement, and how you can turn adversity into a springboard for success – so that, when you do experience failure, you’re equipped with the awareness needed to overcome it (and make it suck a little less).
Conviction Is The Unseen Architect Of Triumph
At the heart of every notable achiever and their achievements is an invisible yet potent force: conviction.
Conviction manifests differently for different people, but there are aspects of it that are always consistent:
- It is rooted in unwavering faith.
- It is born from an unrelenting trust in one’s journey and process.
- It is anti-fragile, not only defending against failure but strengthening it.
Regardless of whether your conviction stems from an unwavering belief in yourself, your abilities, your greater sense of purpose, a higher power, or some combination of these, it acts as a steadfast anchor, offering stability and direction amidst life’s challenges and storms.
Conviction transcends being a mere trait of the successful; it embodies the essence that fuels their journey towards greatness.
Personal growth stems from a relentless pursuit of one’s ideal, supported by an unshakable belief in its attainability. Conviction propels individuals to venture beyond their comfort zones, face the unknown with bravery, and extract wisdom from experiences, regardless of whether they are perceived as good or bad.
It underpins the mindset most conducive to realizing dreams.
All victory is a blessing, as it’s confirmation and vindication of your hard work, and all defeat is a lesson in disguise, essential in leading you towards your next victory.
How To Cultivate Unshakable Conviction
Trust God – whatever your idea of God is or how your personal relationship with that concept manifests.
That is, in my opinion, the absolute best way to cultivate an unshakable conviction.
If I were to wake up tomorrow and lose all of my social media, all of my digital assets, all of my business success, my reputation, my network – I may fall, but I would not stay down.
Because I know the only way I truly fail is if God were to abandon me, and I know that God abandoning me will never happen.
I trust undeniably that God knows what’s best for me and what I need better than I do, and that whatever happens to me will one day serve as something that happened for me.
The faith I have in myself is resolute, but the faith I have in God is indomitable.
The second-best way is to see all circumstance as an opportunity for deeper self-reflection and discovery.
Conviction requires you to exercise resolve, and when you make the choice to exercise resolve in the face of hardship instead of giving up, it sparks a greater understanding of oneself.
You open a window of further introspection into what you value, believe in, and aspire towards – becoming more self-aware in the process.
This self-awareness often creates further degrees of conviction and begins a kind of positive feedback loop. As you navigate life’s highs and lows, your conviction is tested and fortified, resulting in a resilient character shaped through the fires of challenge.
If you have these two philosophies as the foundation of your worldview, I truly believe nothing can stop you.
You will never give up, you will never stay down, you will never surrender. The pool from which you draw strength and resolve will prove to be bottomless.
Even so, there will still be days that are harder than others. Days where your faith will waiver, where doubt will creep in, and where you will feel as though you might not have what it takes.
So let’s look at how you can practically respond to those thoughts & feelings in a way that allows them to move through you as healthfully as possible:
- Develop foundational clarity – If you understand the bedrock of your vision, identity, and purpose, having conviction becomes infinitely easier because you have such a strong and stable foundation upon which to build it. If you want a step-by-step process, you can watch my 3-part clarity development playlist here.
- Operate from longer time horizons – This can be easier said than done at times, but when you make a dedicated effort to zoom out and think over longer time horizons, it helps to put problems and challenges into perspective. For example, I’ll be committed to this work in some capacity until the day I die – I know that for a fact – so when I find myself getting caught up in the day to day, I remind myself of this fact. I have time, and as long as I’m doing my best to walk in the direction of my VIP (vision, identity, purpose), I’m doing what I need to ensure my success, despite any setbacks that might occur along the way.
- Develop a support network – Build relationships, join a high-value community, find like-minded individuals you can connect with who can offer support when you need it and, in turn, you can offer support to when they need it. Sometimes you need to hear confirmation from an external source, someone outside yourself, and that’s okay – it doesn’t make you weak – it just makes you human.
- Learn, adapt, repeat – The only way you truly fail is if you do not learn from your failures. You need to see them for what they are – teachers – and make yourself acutely aware of the lessons they offer you. There’s always something to uncover about yourself, your process, your strengths, your weaknesses, and what you need to further integrate in order to overcome.
- Establish effective systems to fallback on – A good system will keep you aligned when you feel like you’re struggling. When you need it, you’re glad you have it. When you have high-quality SOPs (standard operating procedures) and streamlined processes in place, it makes a world of difference in maintaining consistency and staying on top of what you’re working to accomplish. If you’re a purpose-driven value creator or entrepreneur, The Absolute Abundance Academy will show you how to implement every single system I currently use to run my multi-six-figure brand & business.
Remember, the more you strive to cultivate conviction when the opportunity presents itself, the stronger it becomes.
Continue to cultivate it, and a setback that knocks you off your feet today may not even budge you a year from now.
This is how you evolve beyond problems and avoid getting trapped in a cycle of repeating them – you continue to grow, they continue to shrink, until they no longer have any power over you even when they occur – effectively removing their power and preventing them from becoming a problem in the first place.
Conviction As A Catalyst For Greater Service
Imagine if anyone who ever accomplished anything worthwhile lacked conviction. They would have given up, and their accomplishments would never have served the world at large.
Without conviction, we would get nowhere, and everything beautiful that has been contributed to our world wouldn’t exist.
If you aspire to serve others in some way, your conviction will reach beyond the realm of your own personal achievement and become a significant driver towards that service. When you cultivate a strong conviction, it not only shapes your personal journey but radiates outward, influencing and inspiring those around you.
Look at anyone you admire, look up to, or aspire to be like – I guarantee they exude self-assuredness and an unspoken but clearly communicated dedication to their path.
Individuals fueled by conviction emerge as leaders, not necessarily by title but through the impact of their actions and the strength of their beliefs.
And through this conviction, innovation and creativity emerge. Those who possess it help to establish a culture where ideas are not just encouraged but celebrated, where risks are seen as opportunities for learning and growth.
In such environments, people feel empowered to think outside the box, to challenge the status quo, and to propose novel solutions.
It is through conviction that you embody the change you wish to see, lead by example, and set a standard for integrity and purposeful action that others might follow. It will inspire trust and respect in the hearts of those who witness it, not through coercion or dominance, but through the authenticity and consistency of your actions.
It is an idea carried into the world by conviction that propels movements, fuels innovation, and drives progress. It challenges existing paradigms and paves the way for new ways of thinking and doing. And, inevitably, it spreads. It starts with an individual, maybe you, but works its way out into others. And when a collective of individuals come together, each fueled by their own sense of conviction, the potential for impactful change multiplies exponentially.
This results in a force conducive to significant advancements in various fields and across all walks of life.
And in our modern world, an era where the world is increasingly interconnected, this is more true than it’s ever been. The thoughts, feelings, and actions of a single individual can literally inspire millions across the world, creating a ripple effect of positive change across time and space.
In this way, conviction transcends all boundaries and borders, uniting people in a shared pursuit of a better future.
If you are currently in the midst of a failure, I hope this message has given you a new or better perspective from which to overcome it. And in the future, when a setback or hardship inevitably occurs, I hope you can revisit this message to help you maintain awareness of its value.
Remember, it is your conviction that will serve as the undercurrent that propels you forward, turning your challenges into opportunities for growth and learning.
Learning to flow with this undercurrent is imperative as you navigate life’s complexities, and will help you stay steadfast in the face of its unpredictability.
Cultivate it, and you will transform your personal journey, inspire those around you, and pull further achievement from the ashes of any and all failures.
Much love and, as always, thank you for reading.
– JCS
