Every single day, we experience and deal with failure. But without these failures, who would we be? Would we be where we currently are? Some failures appear to be more painful than others. Some people seem to never fail. Don’t they?
The thought of failure appears to be the reason some people won’t achieve their dream. But is that really it? Isn’t he fear of failure responsible for people not achieving their dreams? Yes, the fear of failure – which is very different from failure itself.
So, how does one face that fear? How does one deal with failure then? Or better yet: how can they leverage that fear to achieving success? Simple. It sounds very cliché but… face your fear of failing. Allow failure to do its work. Treat failure how it is meant to be treated.
The below points will help into facing your fear. Such simple, yet effective, solutions are capital to let failure run its course. And here is the cherry of the cake: failure, which might have meant to destroy you, will make you grow stronger.
Deal with failure by depersonalizing it.
It sounds crazy, but it works. Personalizing failure is ultimately making yourself a failure. Now you are not a failure, are you? And you certainly don’t want to be. God did not make a failure out of you, did He?! In fact, it is the exact opposite. Acknowledge it.
So, rather focus on what the failure (and not your failure) has taught you, instead of beating yourself up because of failing. Beating yourself up for a failure isn’t worthy. And it definitely won’t make you feel better. In lieu of beating yourself up, you can actually…
Focus on finding solutions
Yes! Focus on solutions. Focus and finding solutions will help you be more prepared should there be a reoccurrence. Ask yourself what you could have done differently. Once you figure it out, test it. Improve it. And implement it.
In a previous post, I explained how to implement corrective actions in a strategic way. Feel free to have a look at it and implement it. Taking strategic action is the best way to eliminate the possibility of failure reoccurrence.
Pain management system
Sometimes, the pain one feels after experiencing failure is so excruciating that it turns into a trauma. This is where pain management comes in. Each one has a failure-related pain management system. Whether they know it or not. Whether it is effective or not.
Adequately managing the pain implies the following:
- Recognizing why one feels the pain. Why exactly is that a failure, and why is that painful?
- Why mechanisms are in place to deal with pain? Some people take refuge in eating. Others spent time praying. Some others go for a run.
- Are these mechanisms effective? Mechanisms that do more harm than good will only make your situation worse in the long run.
- If not, adjust and improve. Even if your mechanism is effective, nothing stops you from improving 😉
Don’t quit easily
Don’t quit easily, indeed. A failure will remain a failure if nothing is learnt from it. Sometimes, it is impossible to get things right the first time or the second time. Sometimes, even after dozens of times.
And it is absolutely OK. On every attempt, you will learn something new about yourself or the situation. And that is the beauty of the learning journey. Leverage what you learn to achieve success.
Know when to quit
There is a fine line between not quitting easily and knowing when to quit. And I myself find that line difficult to identify sometimes. I guess assessing how important an achievement is for me is what makes me draw the line. Most of the times.
Knowing when to quit is beneficial to progress too. It also teaches you valuable lessons and contributes to your growth. If your attempts negatively affect your core values, then quit. In my case, one of my core values is peace of mind. When my peace of mind is affected, I quit.
If you focus all your time and energy to avoid failure, then you are simply delaying the time failure will occur. Put yourself out there without fear and embrace the failures. If you do not encounter a failure, then you won’t push your limit. Let alone maximizing your potential.
What about you? Do you have any more tips on how to deal with failure? Did you have the opportunity of applying these tips for your business or even for your life? If yes, I’d love to read your thoughts and the results you achieved in the comment section.
This post aimed to provide you with tips on how to deal with failure. Feel free to comment and share.