Use Selective Short-Term Memory to Quickly Overcome Past Failure
Fuck it sucks. When you fail at something, it is easy to attack yourself and let it undermine your confidence. Instead of struggling endlessly with your failure, it may sometimes be better to allow yourself a little short-term memory loss to get over that hump.
As the Three Thrifty Guys personal finance blog explains, this strategy is often used by golfers. If you screw up one hit, you will feel overwhelmed. But you don’t have time to go through the emotional process of analyzing your mistake, coming to terms with human imperfection, deciding to learn from your mistake, and continuing the endless continuum of human existence. You need to hit the damn ball. Instead of getting carried away with trying to calm yourself emotionally, just forget it happened:
I often equate playing golf with life. In golf, we play the ball where it lies, while in life we play the “cards” that God gave us. In golf, we need a short-term memory to forget about the last bad hit so that it doesn’t affect the next. In life, we need to constantly forgive ourselves and others in order to move on so that bitterness and regret does not destroy what is in front of us.
If you screwed up like a king, you can always go back and find out what you did wrong, but the inevitable psychological impact of realizing that you failed can lead to more failures if you’re not careful. Don’t let this drag you away. Whether you’re on a job interview, on a date, or just throwing a ball around the field, once you screw up, forget it even happened and focus on the moment. There will be time to think about it later.
Don’t hit yourself | Three frugal guys