6 Steps to Gain Confidence Again After a Failure
You may not take the initiative to do something new due to fear of failure. It could be because you had a bad experience- a failure in investment, in business or while taking an adventurous activity.
This lack of confidence can have a multiplier effect as those observing you could also think negative when it comes to dealing with challenges. Thus gaining back your confidence is vital not only for you but your friends and associates as well.
Here are 6 steps to regain confidence
1. Failure is a Stepping Stone
You might have observed toddlers growing up and how many times they fall but persist in their effort to crawl or walk on their own. Each fall only adds to their energy to perform not dampen their enthusiasm. You must develop the lost attitude you had as a child and try to make a comeback from failure.
Whether it is learning to speak, read or write, you made several attempts in childhood before you could master it. Life also presents several challenges before you to learn. You must have heard about several successful people who failed miserably in their early attempts but came back strongly.
2. Learn from Your Mistakes
Each failure should be utilized to learn about what went wrong. Was it due to lack of adequate preparation, a wrong move, or unforeseen circumstances ? Sometimes, estimation of sales or profit can go wrong, a place identified as great business potential can turn out to be a bad one. As India’s former President APJ Abdul Kalam once said, listen to stories of failure, not success as you learn more from failures.
3. Develop a Positive Attitude
Various religious texts, scriptures and teachers have shown us that developing a positive attitude is important to accept both success and failure in your stride. Success is not entirely due to your efforts and so are failures. Some things are beyond our control or comprehension at the time of taking a decision and we have to accept the outcome whether it is positive or negative.
4. A New Strategy
If your failure was due to a mistake in strategy and you could identify, try a different strategy. Your focus on low-value offerings or goods may have caused losses and therefore try to focus on quality offerings which may fetch premium prices. An investment may have resulted in a loss because the timing was not right- you bought a stock or mutual fund when the market was at its peak.
In all such cases, you must try a different strategy next time and not brood over your failures.
5. Meditate
Meditation can clear your mind of negative thoughts associated with failure and calm your mind. It helps to discard all the memories of past failures and anxieties about the future and equip you to act in the present. As philosophers and motivational speakers say, the time to act is now and that involves being in the present.
6. Seek Help
Many times failure makes you turn lonely and aloof from people but that is precisely the time when you must reach out and seek help. It could be a monetary help or guidance on how to move forward. Sometimes a friendly banker, a government official, a friend or neighbor may be in a position to help you.
Sometimes, you may get a negative response but that should not deter you from seeking help elsewhere. It’s your life and career that matters and not what others think you. Later on, when you succeed, they will forget your failures too.
