What’s missing from the phrase ‘if at first you don’t succeed try, try again’

I am a big believer that part of being successful is determination and following the saying ‘if at first you don’t succeed try, try again’, but I think there is one crucial piece missing from it.

That is the bit that lies between trying and trying again. In that gap there is one crucial step we can often end up overlooking or ignoring, the importance of stopping, breathing, resting, and recharging. That rest period is where creative ideas are born, it is where the energy comes from for the next push, it is where the healing and repair is done so we are stronger moving forward.

Athletes do this all the time. Between training there are breaks to rest, refuel, recharge and repair. Without it they exhaust themselves to the point of irreparable damage.

The same goes for personal development and growth, trying every which way to do something is fine but take the breaks in between in order to regroup and take stock of where you are otherwise you miss all the important information along the way.

I see this so much with clients I work with who have anxiety. They are so fixated on finding the answer and “getting it right” that they are paralysed by their anxiety. I help them by working with them on grounding techniques and firming up the foundations they already have with some more anxiety management and reduction techniques so that when the anxiety storms come, which they do, they do not have to weather it stuck in tent, they get to stand under the shelter they have built and ride it out until it passes.

Leave a comment below if that sounds familiar. I think we’ll find it is more common than most of us are aware currently.