I love motivational phrases! They can be great encouragers. And I think most people love them too. Why else would we have so many posts and accounts dedicated to them if they weren't truly inspirational?
But I have been thinking about one phrase in particular that has always motivated me before and I now look at differently.
"When you fall off, get back on the horse."
I get what it's saying. Don't give up. Try again.
There is actually an inherent assumption that may need to be addressed here though. When we say get up and do it again, that doesn't mean do it the exact same way! That way lies madness. You need to reevaluate what went wrong, refine your approach and then get back on and try it again- in a new way.
Falling off and getting back on immediately isn't going to move you forward. You will never learn from the mistakes you keep making. Instead, pause. Take a moment and reflect on what actually happened. Figure out why you failed this time before you just turn around and fail again. You will only get discouraged if you don't. When Thomas Edison was trying to perfect the light bulb filament, do you think he just kept using the same design each time? No! He made adjustments.
You have to make adjustments in order to find success after failure.
So before you get back on that horse. Take the time to figure out a better solution, a different approach than the time before. You may have to go back to the drawing board many times, but at least you won't be failing at the exact same thing every time! At least you will be refining and improving on what you have already done. It's moving in the right direction and putting one foot in front of another. So don't do the same thing again when it didn't work the first time. But still get back on that horse. If you don't then you won't move at all.
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