Embrace Selective Short-Term Memory To Move Past Failure Quickly

Embrace Selective Short-Term Memory To Move Past Failure Quickly

Screwing up sucks. When you fail at something, it’s easy to get down on yourself and let it undermine your confidence. Rather than wrestling with your failure endlessly, sometimes it may be better to indulge in a little short-term memory loss to get over that hump.

Picture: Tomasz Stasiuk

As personal finance blog Three Thrifty Guys explains, this is a strategy that golfers often use. Screwing up one swing can make you feel pretty down. But you don’t have time to go through the emotional process of analysing your mistake, reconciling with the imperfection of man, resolving to learn from your mistake, and pressing on in the endless continuum of human existence. You need to hit the damn ball. Rather than get caught up trying to emotionally soothe yourself, just forget it happened:

I often equate a game of golf to life. In golf, we play the ball where it lies, whereas in life — we play the “cards” God has dealt us. In golf, we need a short-term memory to forgot that last bad shot so it doesn’t affect the next one. In life, we need to continually forgive ourselves and others so we can move on so that bitterness and regret don’t ruin what is before us.

If you screw up royally, you can always go back and figure out what you did wrong, but the imminent psychological impact of knowing you failed can lead to more failure if you’re not careful. Don’t let it drag you down. Whether you’re on a job interview, a date, or just smacking a ball around a field, as soon as you screw up, forget it even happened and deal with the current moment. There will be time for ruminating later.

Don’t Beat Yourself [Three Thrifty Guys]


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