Handling failure!

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Handling failure! / 031 24 Apr 2021

There is a plethora of books and articles on achieving success, and they offer a lot of stirring or motivational advice. But there is very little written on handling failure, which is actually critical to achieving success. Failure is a better teacher than success. Simply put, we succeed based on wisdom from our experiences, and those experiences are derived from many a failure. Success means we have learnt to handle failures and to move on. Success comes infrequently – like a career promotion or a major professional success; whereas failure is a regular part of our lives – like a flop presentation, an unsuccessful project, or a clash within the team. We need to handle failures regularly in order to succeed. This article looks at how we can handle failure better in our professional lives. Do read on!

We need to take failure in our stride and not let it erode our confidence or enthusiasm. This means we need to work on our attitude. As much as we need to look good and presentable, we need to actively work towards maintaining a positive attitude and outlook as well. But how do we do this when we are facing the headwinds of failure, when things look bleak and depressing? Do read on for some simple and easy-to-do ideas that we can incorporate into our daily lives:

01.  Don’t take it to heart

Take ownership of the failure, but do not take it to heart. Everybody fails at something, and no one is perfect. Failure does not mean you are incompetent, it simply means that you got the combination of Situations Vs. Decisions wrong this time. Now you know which combination doesn’t work well 

02.  Reach out for help

Failure can seem overwhelming, especially when we try to do everything ourselves. It would be better to reach out for help and advice. Just talking to someone can reduce stress, and may also give us a good neutral perspective

03.  Work diligently to set it right

Ultimately we can truly bury a failure only by setting things right. A failure should thus infuse a sense of purpose and we must work diligently to take the necessary decisions and actions that will help us move forward while leaving the failure behind

04.  Imbibe and Share the lessons learnt

Failure highlights process deficiencies in a way success never can. When we succeed, we tend to overlook deficiencies in the warm afterglow of success. But failure forces us to pause and examine everything thoroughly. We can learn and also share lessons learnt with others

05.  Go back to basics

When we fail at something, we can make a fresh start. We can re-imagine the whole thing. Innovators like Edison and Bell learnt from multiple failures, going back to scratch and starting again. Breakthrough innovations are usually achieved this way

06.  Stay positive, this too shall pass

Like a human body is built of cells, professionals are built by failures or rather, experiences arising from failures. It is important to stay positive and to firmly believe that difficult situations too will pass. This helps us build the fortitude and resilience needed to tackle the present

When we look at successful people, it would appear that they have had a smooth ride, and haven’t had to face the failures that we may have faced. In reality, they may have faced worse. Successful people fail often. ‘I fail therefore I am successful’ is a quote attributed to legendary sports star Michael Jordan. It is just that they have been able to take it in their stride, have sought and received help, have worked to set things right, are ready to share the story of their struggles, reinvent themselves with each failure and stay positive. They have been able to overcome and put the failures behind them – that is the key difference between super- and less-successful people.

I hope you liked reading this article, and look forward to your responses and feedback. Let us build a conversation around this topic. Warm regards, Krishnakumar.

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References: None