Failure, mistakes, mishaps and struggle are hugely under-appreciated resources to draw upon rather than hide or run from.
If harnessed properly these events can help drive you to achieve long term successes.
How I look at failure:
- Expect failure. Everyone fails. Everyone! Enough said
- Get comfortable. Accept it will happen. Be unafraid. Don’t internalize failure so much that is prevents you from moving forward.
- Seek out and practice. Practice is controlled failure — factor this in to your project, business, life and family so that you know what it feels like, and can learn from it.
- Ignore the haters: Have the courage to be disliked for your resilience and energy you give out to the world. You can not control others reactions, but you can control how you respond.
- Learn & adapt. Recognize when you failed, why you failed, and what to do differently next time. What you take from and how you adapt your approach is essential in failing forward and your future success.
- Embrace and share failure. Why not celebrate failure? Talk to your kids or team about it. Have a failure party at work and celebrate what you learned and how you will do things differently. People learn most from failure they experience firsthand, however second hand failure is also a great teacher. This step also has the added bonus of reducing the stigma of failure in todays culture.
- Keep going. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move forward with a stronger sense of purpose and an improved and clearer roadmap to success.
- Be kind. Don’t be an asshole to yourself. In fact don’t be an asshole to anyone. Ever.
- Recharge. For long term and recurring successes you need periods of rest and recovery.
Always try to remember; “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca
In the long run, how you responded to the setback is what really matters — this is what makes you the person you are today and can be tomorrow.
