I try a new recipe every now and then and I would say 1/3 of the time it is nothing special worth repeating, 1/3 of the time it is so good that it goes in the book, and the other 1/3 of the time it turns out so badly that we have to order pizza. Well, last week I made a chili for the first time (football playoffs, oh yeah!) with cornbread muffins which was delicious! Yum yum yum... Then, yesterday, I was feeling adventurous and attempted to make chile rellenos and wow, did I crash and burn or what!? Sorry there is no picture but to give you an idea, the ratios were all off, it was oil soaked, and inedible because I melted a spatula into it. Always one to never let a bad experience get me down, this is perfect inspiration for this week's blog post!

What do you do when you carefully prepare, take the advice of others, and and yet still everything falls apart? It seems that the same secret to success sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, without a reason why or why not. What can you do to keep from feeling down about the outcome of something you put 100% effort into?

1. Have a Plan B (or Plan C, or Plan D)
• Sometimes a failure simple means your first idea wasn't the best one. I am a fairly risk averse person in that when I make a decision, I want to be sure about it and see it from many different angles. However, don't let a backup plan get out of hand. It shouldn't be enough of a plan to dissuade you from moving on the initial idea; there is a difference between "going all in cautiously" and "planning for failure".
2. Learn only one lesson
• The thing about mistakes is that we can learn a lot from them but I think what holds us back sometimes is when we try to learn too much from them. We replay the situation over and over again in our heads and it causes us to get stuck on the past. Limit yourself to learning one, just one, thing and then move on and apply that lesson to the next thing.
3. Remember the "tried and true" methods
• To set your mind at ease after a fall it may be useful to go back to what you know and do something where the outcome is more certain. Boost that confidence and gain back your drive to be adventurous. For me, I know that practicing music relaxes me even though I've tried many other things (tai chi, glass of wine, running) but simply doing one thing that is familiar can reset me upright so I can face the next challenge head on.

A few other examples of good intention that have gone wrong? Plans for an extended family dinner, a social media marketing campaign, or great vacation ideas after you get a sunburn are a few that come to mind. What about you?