In case you and I haven’t had a chance to “meet” yet, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mary Howard, and I’m a content writer at DaniJohnson.com. You may receive emails from me occasionally, but today Dani asked me to share something a little different in The Daily Fix.

It all started a few days ago, when some coworkers and I were talking about how FAKE social media can be. You see, most people only want to show their good side. Their lives look PERFECT… like they have no problems, no frustrations and, of course, they NEVER fail at anything! They show only what they want to show.

I got this sinking feeling in my stomach, as I realized I was one of those fake people. How often do I share my success, but hide my failures?! I don’t want to be FAKE!

And, coincidentally, I’d just had a major FLOP the day before. So, I took to Facebook to share my failure… and what I learned from it.

You see, I’m a big believer in using my struggles – and victories – to encourage, inspire and walk alongside others who may be in similar situations, because I know my life is not my own. (That’s something I’ve learned from Dani over the past six years. And, in case you haven’t noticed, she’s the definition of “an open book!”)

So, I’m going to take a page from Dani’s book today, and share my failure with you, because I believe there’s a lesson in here for both of us. (And I’ll be honest, I was sweating bullets when Dani asked me to do this…)

Here’s my Facebook post from last week…

*Full Disclosure* I do NOT get it right all the time, despite what you see on Facebook. (Yes, I tend to post the GOOD and skip the BAD. But do not, for even one moment, believe I have it all together!!!) In fact, check out this calendar and you’ll see I’ve gotten it WRONG more days than I’ve gotten it right, lately. (I started on July 5th… that’s 8 days ON and 9 days OFF.)

I have three different calendars going right now, but I’m focusing on this one, because it is the biggest challenge I’m currently overcoming and most important right now. This particular one tracks my eating goal: when I hit my daily calorie range of 1200-1500, I get an X in the box. When I’m over (which hasn’t happened, yet) or under (which has happened a LOT), I don’t get an X for that day.

I had a good streak going this week – my LONGEST streak – until yesterday. Yesterday was an “off” day in so many ways. And at the end of the day, I felt like such a failure, thinking “You can’t do this anyway, why don’t you just give up?” and “Who cares if you ate less?! It’ll make you lose the weight faster!”

But guess what?! For the first time EVER, one “fail” day didn’t derail me up for the rest of the week, or even make me quit altogether! Why? Because I have a DAILY GOAL!

It was an “off” day, I wasn’t feeling well, I skipped my run, and I CHOSE not to meet my calorie goal for the day. (And, I had all kinds of mental and emotional stuff to work through, as a result.)

But TODAY? Today I chose to get back on track… to meet my goal for TODAY… to not let yesterday’s failure stunt today’s growth.

I also have HOPE, because I know what I’m capable of! I know I CAN do this, because I have another calendar, just like this one, that has 662 days IN A ROW marked off!

That represents 662 days since I CHOSE to walk away from porn… 662 days of NO porn, NO masturbation, NO acting on those temptations.

Dani always says to “borrow” confidence from one area and apply it in other areas. I have 662 days of outrageous success in one area… I KNOW it can be done, so I’m choosing to use THAT confidence, in THIS area.

It’s EXACTLY THE SAME!!! Am I tempted to eat less than my calorie goal each day? Sure. Am I tempted throughout the day? Yes. But I don’t HAVE to give in to that temptation! I can CHOOSE to stick to my plan.

It’s the same as the last 662 days. Have I been tempted to watch porn or to give in to other sexual temptations? Abso-freaking-lutely! But I *CHOSE* not to! Instead I chose to be diligent and stick to my plan, and THAT brought me incredible success.

My friend, if you can be diligent in ONE area, you can be diligent in another! If you can have success in ONE area, you can experience the same level of success in other areas!

Yes, you will be tempted. And yes, you will experience “off” days, and even complete FAILURES – no matter who you are or what you do! Failure is part of the journey of success!

But it’s what you DO with that failure determines what happens moving forward.

I’ve learned a few extremely valuable lessons from my failure last week, and I’ll be writing about them tomorrow morning in The Daily Fix. No matter your goals, the kind of challenges you face or what “success” looks like to you, failure is something we all must deal with. But, good news – when you know how to handle failure, it can actually position you for even greater success. So, stay tuned tomorrow for very specific strategies to deal with the mistakes, bad days and failures in your life!

In the meantime, I want to know what YOU are ACTIVELY working on! What areas of your life are you actively working to improve? What weaknesses are you strengthening? What challenges are you overcoming? Where have you FAILED this week, and what lessons are you learning from that failure? I want to know, because I want to LEARN from YOU!!! (Leave your comments below!)

Forever in YOUR corner,

Mary Howard
DaniJohnson.com

P.S. Don’t forget to share this with your social media network… along with both the good AND bad in your life. Then, for an extra boost, remember you can always count on The Dani Johnson Show to give you new skills and strategies to help you through every stage of your journey! Tune in at 7 AM or on demand, at your convenience! You can find Dani on your TV and radio. And remember, you can also catch Dani’s show streaming today right here on our website and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with new content posted daily!