June 9, 2025
Growing up, my grandfather loved to give us advice for school: stay away from B’s, they will sting you.
While this was a way to encourage us to pursue excellence and get A’s…I think there is a lesson to be taken from the latter portion of that statement: they will sting you.
You see, growing up, this idea of getting straight A’s not only encouraged perfection, but when perfection wasn’t achieved it fostered the growth of the idea that “I’m a failure.”
There is a lesson in this.
The victim mentality of “I am a failure” is only true if you choose not to learn why you didn’t achieve the desired result.
Now, if you subscribe to this philosophy and are entrenched into the failure lifestyle, you will quickly find yourself bitter, angry and frustrated with the life you have.
However, if you want to learn from your failure, I would challenge you to reframe the experience into an expectation of a setback.
From my perspective and life experience, when you expect setbacks you create a foundation that is primed for growth because you are willing to fight through the challenge and not quit.
Instead of expecting to fail, you look for an opportunity to improve.
More importantly, when you embody this philosophy, it will seep into every aspect of your life cultivating a community that is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence despite the challenges that life throws at you.
An added benefit is you will no longer be an angry, bitter and frustrated person…instead you will become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with who will carry joy, peace and courage to stay in the fight.
The sooner you are able to implement the expectation that you will encounter setbacks (the metaphorical B sting) in your life, the quicker you will be willing to amend your ways to ensure that you can use the setback to spring forward and course correct to become exactly who God made you to be.
Remember…it’s 4:45 AM…and if you are walking with me, wherever you are in the world, know that I am praying for you.
Since I don’t make posts like this on social media … If there’s someone you know that would benefit from reading this, share it with them so they can start working on making their Monday great again.
