Succeeding at Failure
Sometimes you will encounter things in life that don’t come easily to you. Instead of deciding that these things are not worth your effort, press on. If you have grown accustomed to the reward of success without the investment of hard work, then this article is for you.
You may think that failure is one of the worst things you can experience. Perhaps you have been pushed to excel and have grown to believe that failure is a reflection on yourself as a person. Perhaps there is someone in your life who you don’t want to disappoint.
The truth is, it is a good thing to struggle and fail at something. You have failed, and you will fail again. Failing to excel can help you learn how to cope with failure if you will only invest the time and effort needed to succeed.
Learn how to dive headfirst back into your task, work hard, and improve. It will likely not come easily to you, but what you may have thought was a terrible failure can become one of your greatest successes. Through pressing on, you will learn how to cope. How to adjust, and how to handle disappointment.
In a society that seems to value success above all else, it is important that you allow yourself to fail. It is evident in the media every day when a prominent figure makes a mistake. They are publicly criticized for not being perfect, for being human.
Here are seven simple strategies for learning to cope with failure:
1. Prepare
Don’t go into a new venture expecting to fail, but do have a plan in place just in case it happens. Put your whole heart into it. Don’t hold back. Tackle your new venture with all your available resources. Just have an action plan ready ahead of time in case all aspects of your plan don’t work out. This will help you in case you do fail or encounter a stumbling block. You will be ready to pick yourself up much sooner.
2. Be Flexible
If you are rigid about your way of doing things, your odds of failure and disappointment increase. Again, go after your goals with everything you have. But go into it with the understanding that things don’t always work out the way you plan. Flexibility will help you prepare for the unexpected. You may even see possibilities you hadn’t considered before.
3. Expect to Work Hard
This is one that many see as a given, but then there are people who think that everything should come easy. If it doesn’t, they are ready to give up. When they realize that success is not going to fall into their lap, they crumble.They aren’t prepared for that possibility. It’s true that some things will come easily. But most things in life worth having mean you have to work. They require sacrifice. They require you to make adjustments so you can reach our goals.
4. Establish a Support System
Failure can be hard to stomach alone. If you have a support system in place, you will have people who will encourage you when you fail. Make sure that this support system is encouraging without being coddling. Having people only tell you what you want to hear does not help you cope with failure. People who will be honest and encouraging are the ones who will say, “Yes. You screwed up. Own it, pick yourself up, and move on.” Honesty is what you need to gain clarity, grieve the loss of your picture of success, and keep moving toward our goals.
5. Learn to Admit your Mistakes
For many, failure is hard to swallow because they have believed that they shouldn’t make mistakes. This can make it hard for them to stop and take the time to admit that it is their fault that they failed. Some don’t want to admit that they have stopped trying. Instead, they blame it on outside circumstances.You have to learn to accept that the problem is with you. Once you learn to admit your own mistakes, you will find it easier to pinpoint where you went wrong and adjust your future plans.
6. Ask for Help
It might be harder to ask for help than it is to admit your mistake. Humility is a crucial part of success. Admitting when you can’t do something alone is a large part of keep you grounded and focused on our goals. If you are struggling or have failed at something, turn to your support system. Ask for help, advice, and criticism - whatever it is that you need to continue working toward your goal.
7. Don’t Give Up
This is the most important step of all. Keep going. You only fail if you stop trying to improve and stop working toward your goals. Perhaps you failed at one thing, and you discovered that it’s not something you want. That’s fine. But continue on your path to self-discovery and self-improvement. Don’t stop searching and working for happiness.
There are many ways to handle failure. These are the seven elements that can be essential to your success at failure. You will make many mistakes. You will fail at things you attempt. And then you will fail some more becausefailure is a part of life. It is accepting that failure and learning from mistakes that will make you truly successful.
