how to… Fail

Failure is part of any ambitious cyclist’s life. So make sure you’re doing it right. First, set a clear, well-defined target. Without a target, you won’t know if you’ve failed, when you’ve failed, or how badly you’ve failed.

Then, set some smaller, progressive targets as stepping stones which you can fail to measure up to en route to the big target that you won’t reach. This is called ‘micro-failure’ and it will help you work up to your ‘macro-failure’ by, among other things, giving you practice at the self-recrimination you’ll need after you’ve muffed up the big one.

When you fail, in either the micro or the macro sense, be sure to find an excuse, and preferably a scapegoat. It is essential for your mental health to work out a way that it is not your fault, but someone else’s. This is an entirely sincere piece of advice. Since the excuse is for your benefit only, it doesn’t matter whether or not anyone else believes it.

After you’ve deployed the excuse and decided whose fault your inadequacy is, cut them out of your life, and then set a new, tougher target. After all, there’s a good chance that without them causing the first sequence of disasters, you’ll be able to achieve even more than you originally planned, and you’ll already be behind schedule.

Use these simple steps, and you can be confident of an entire career of falling short.