What does Failure Mean To You?

One of my clients a Quit Smoker came back to see me a second time because he had taken up smoking again after lasting 3 months. His opening line to me was “I have failed”
Had he failed? What does failure mean to you? Is it as simple as saying we have failed because we have not succeeded?
My interpretation of failure is that it is a frequent interjection in our lives- a natural and re occurring event /emotion that we can acknowledge, manage and overcome until we achieve the result we are after. Of course you can only overcome failure provided you understand what success means to you and how you measure that and use it to help you attain the goal. In my clients case he still wants to quit smoking for good, he dearly wants his health to improve and his desire is high to finally quit. I reassured that he had not failed, that he had been triggered – in his case it was a big night out on the grog, not thinking and then lighting up again. We talked at length about the strategies he would put in place on a conscious level when he was having a big night out. I talked him about taking responsibility and being a grown up and asked him could he control the number of drinks and therefore any threat of losing control and lighting up again. Once I had his agreement and commitment to become a permanent non smoker again – we did the hypnosis again. As I have said before giving up smoking is tough – with hypnosis some people never touch it again after the first session – and some need to come back and that’s ok,
So success can come quickly or slowly – it will come if you are willing to believe you can achieve the goal and you keep trying until you do , with whatever method you choose to use.