Category: Failure

Defining Success

Published on by erikcpanzer1 Comment

“The accomplishment of an aim or purpose” – Oxford languages

Success is a concept where everyone has the opportunity to define it differently. The beauty of the human race is that no one person is the same and therefore it is most likely that everyone’s definition of success is different.

Due to a lack of knowledge, people make assumptions, they create opinions, and these opinions are only based on their thoughts, their experiences, and when all they have in their head is certain voices, their perspective is very skewed with no empathetic understanding to others journey.

It is important to remember this as you travel on your journey, that no one elses definition of success is the same as yours. For some, it may be internal, for others, it may be external. The most important thing is to know within yourself what success is in your life.

So, What is success for you?

The only person that can answer that question for you, is you. No one else should determine what you consider to be successful. Success can only truly be defined in relation to what you have personally set out to achieve. And to understand what you have set out to achieve, it is critical to know your purpose.

In a results driven world, where numbers, scores, and status are so often used as the measurement for success, without purpose, these are all you really have to assess your achievement. When you have a higher purpose, what is seen on the surface to the public eye becomes irrelevant to the journey you are on.

Here’s a little story:

I once took a class at University where in my final exam I got a score of 38/100. After initial disappointment, I realized something, that my definition of success was not about the score that I had gotten, it was actually about all that I had learned. In that class, I started with a knowledge base of near zero, whereas most my classmates started with a knowledge base of over 50, so it is only understandable that when the professor came to mark our final exam, my knowledge was considerably lower than everyone elses. So I wrote an email and said this, “if you are going to grade me on what I have achieved, I have failed, but if you are going to grade me on what I have learned, then I have passed”. The professor never responded to that email….but I passed the class.

As I’ve continued to grow in this life, this has been a poignant moment to reflect upon and show me that my definition of success is about what I learn and the journey that I am on, rather than the results I achieve.

Success is the person I am becoming through the journey that I am on.

I have discovered my purpose and I follow that everyday. It reflects in my actions, in my decisions, and therefore it allows me to measure my own success and no one else.

I encourage you, whatever industry you are in, whatever path you are on, to clearly define your purpose for your life, your reason for being, to enable you to accurately measure success in your life. Don’t let society define it for you.

Find your purpose and you’ll find your way

Believe

Published on by erikcpanzer

Belief

It’s a strong power, and without it, your grounds for achieving will be very weak.

By definition, “Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a mental representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true.”

This state of mind, this mental capacity has allowed us as a human species to achieve extraordinary things: Using science to create medicine to save millions of people, People walking on the Moon, Developing technology that has changed the world.

Put it this way, if it weren’t for belief, we wouldn’t have people who have or can change the world. That’s pretty significant.

If you don’t believe in yourself, what’s the point? Whether it’s sports, work, relationships, if you don’t believe in them, then nothing strong enough will be pushing for success. Success just doesn’t happen on its own, it takes hard work, perseverance, but most importantly, it takes belief.

So, where do you start? Firstly you need something that you’re aiming for. This will give you a target, something to strive for, something to believe in. With this target in mind, you must then believe strongly in yourself that you can achieve that.

In this process of achieving success, it is human instinct to want others to believe in you, for others to approve of your target, however, others are irrelevant. They don’t matter. If they want to support you, great, however, it is your individual control, it is your individual power to believe, that will lead you to achieving, not anyone else’s. If you want to achieve something extraordinary, the first thing you have to do is believe in yourself.

To believe is to have confidence. To be confident is to have certainty. To be certain is to know beyond doubt. You must know beyond doubt that you are committed, committed to achieve what you have set out to achieve.

Those trailblazers, those world beaters, those life changers, those ordinary people that have achieved extraordinary things all had one thing in common, they understood the power of belief and look where it took them.
These people were willing to fail, to be knocked down, time and time again, because they knew the strength they had through their power of belief and they believed in their ability to get back up and go again, and again, until they succeeded.

No matter what you believe, big or small, is your belief strong enough to keep you going, no matter the setback?

Time for Reflection

Published on by erikcpanzer

2017 has been an incredible year for me.

I have been very blessed to have stayed fit and healthy throughout the past 12 months as I continue to pursue football. This journey in 2017 took me to more countries, more places, than I could have imagined. The experiences I have had, the places I have visited and explored, have been incredible. The people I have met and the stories I have heard have been amazing. And the growth and development as a young man that has occurred in my life has been unmatched by any other prior experience.

2017 certainly hasn’t been easy as I have faced many challenges, making tough decisions like leaving a club, or investing in a rigorous training program, or being dropped to the bench. But I see all these challenges as lessons learned and an opportunity for growth. Although learned in football, these challenges are relative to the real world and these lessons learned give me life skills. They are lessons that I can grow from and utilize in the future when similar situations occur, whether in my own work place or whether I’m working with a client who is also in a similar situation. When times are tough, it makes me tougher and that will show true one day, near or far.

Some of the highlights were:

With all these experiences over the last 12 months, I am very excited to head into the new year with fire in my belly and a continued drive for success and adventure. Life is certainly unpredictable, and it definitely is not fair, so I look forward to embracing every opportunity that I get to develop myself and my wellbeing. The excitement of the unknown is nerving but thrilling. Knowing that there are so many more great experiences to be had, many more lessons to be learned, and best of all, more people to meet and be inspired by or even inspire them.
It is the people in my life that allow me to continue my purposeful journey. I am very thankful for the love and support from all those who assisted in my journey this year. Most importantly, I am grateful to be closer to home this holiday period and spend some precious quality time with my family.
I look forward to continuing to chase my dream in the new year!

Life Is Full Of Learning And Growing

Published on by erikcpanzer

Learning never ends in life, or at least I don’t believe it does. Learning is a crucial element to life, to continue to adapt to this ever changing society we live in. Each and every individual has the ability to learn, about themselves, about their environments, about this world, it is whether or not the individual is open and willing to learning. As previously mentioned in my ‘The 12 Lessons Learned While Chasing My Dreams’ article written 6 months ago, one of the most important lessons I shared was the importance of learning. Learning in every situation, every experience, whether it is good or bad is so important to ensure you grow from it and use it in the future.

I shared the importance of learning with 550 High School students last Monday during my speech as the guest speaker at Garin College‘s Colors Awards ceremony. It was the focal point of what I wanted these high school students to take away, that success or failure isn’t the key, it is the learning in the process and experience that is. For students, I believe that their learning should not be restricted between the walls of a classroom, nor should it be restricted to the walls of their home. Most of the greatest education I have learned has been outside of these walls, interacting with new people, learning about new cultures, and most importantly, getting outside of my comfort zone to learn more about myself. I encourage all of the students to get out and explore the world and learn about themselves, and I encourage you all that read this to do the same. Learn to become a better version of yourself!

My journey has been one of many ups and downs, and this was something that I wrote down awhile ago, and I feel it is appropriate to my life over the last few years:

“Succeeding isn’t just about achieving, it’s about learning, and when it comes down to what I have learned, I have succeeded” – Erik Panzer

And on the football pitch this week, my teammates and I continued to learn. Learning and understanding how our style of play is to counter the oppositions, however we learned a harsh lesson in our game, and that was that of the desire and will to win. Although we had a game plan which we had learned, we only partially executed it, but the greatest let down was our desire to win. It is a lesson that we need to learn as we continue to strive for the levels of performance that we expect from ourselves. Back to training this week to grow from it and put things right this coming week.

Through Failure Comes Success

Published on by erikcpanzer

As I continue to develop my mental state on the training pitch, I am always developing the best ways for myself to overcome the frustrations of failure. It is frustrating to keep trying something and failing, continuing to miss a specific pass because I am trying to force it too much. So, why am I getting frustrated? Because I missed a pass? Because I think I let my teammates down from that missed pass? Because I think I let down my coaches from that missed pass? Because I think I am less of a player because I missed that pass? The only person I am letting down in this situation is myself by getting frustrated. If I do not continue to work on something that is not a strength in my game, if I give up, then I have truly failed myself. I should be embracing this challenge and stay patient, because if I didn’t fail, then how would I learn?

So often with failure, we look elsewhere to place blame, and even when we do understand that it is our own making, rarely do we truly process why we are failing, or even if it is considered to be failing. Identifying what part of the process failed and recognizing it for the next time you are in the situation is very important to making progress. It is also an individuals response to failure that truly sets them apart from others. How you react, in any situation is a huge dictator of character, and with failure specifically, it separates the strong from the weak, the motivated from the unmotivated. Success does not happen without failure, so embrace the challenge to better yourself, to keep persevering, knowing that one day, your greatest failures will lead to your greatest successes.

“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

The quote above is very relevant to our team this weekend. We lost, but I know that we will not avoid it. We will take the result on the chin and embrace it, embrace our weaknesses shown this week and come back stronger and more prepared for success next week.

I continued to explore and enjoy the new city I have been living in for 3 weeks, all while catching up with a few friends who also live here. New Zealand’s natural beauty is simply unbeatable; the fresh air, green hills, blue seas and the great people, it truly is special. It sure does feel good to be back!