Failure is completely inevitable for people who wants to rise above the rest of the flock. No one has a 100 percent batting average.It’s a simple fact that sometimes when you swing you miss. But those misses are worth it for every time you hit something out of the park. Read below to learn to manage failure on your journey towards success.
1. You’re responsible for your failure
You failed. Accept it and move on. Also accept that, if you play your cards right, you will become better for your failure. Sure, you failed, you know that already, but if you learned enough from the experience you utilized the failure to become a better version of yourself. All successful people fail often; failures are inevitable if you want to find any success. If you don’t wallow in the mistakes you made, one failure can be a stepping stone to many more checkmarks in the win column.
2. Learn to forgive yourself
Holding onto anger instead of forgiving someone is, as the saying goes, like drinking poison and expecting it to kill the other person. Not forgiving yourself for something you did is even more poisonous. In the end your anger benefits no one, and only hurts you. Accept that you didn’t succeed and learn to forgive yourself. It’s not that hard once you accept that you’re a human being who is not perfect. You wouldn’t expect perfection from anyone else, not even the most successful people in the world, so please don’t hold yourself to such a ridiculously high standard.
3. Apologize frankly
You’re sorry, right? So admit it. You may not like owning up to your failures (it’s certainly never pleasant) but it is such a release when you finally say you’re sorry. Anyone you might have wronged or done a disservice to will appreciate you for having the courage to apologize. Make sure you know exactly what you’re sorry for and that you express it well. If your apology comes across as insincere, it will only have a neutral or, worse, a negative effect. Tell the recipient of your apology specifically what you did wrong, why you regret it, and what you’ll do to correct it in the future. That way, that person will know you have thought your actions through and truly want to make things right.
4. Look back on your mistakes
This is one of the most important steps when you want to manage failure. Try to look back on your mistakes through an unbiased lens, analyzing what you did wrong and what you will do differently next time. Don’t be afraid to really pinpoint your missteps; uncovering the mistakes is the only way you’ll learn how to avoid them the next time around. A good trick is to ask someone else who saw where you went wrong what they think you could do better in the future. In the end, looking back on your own follies will always be through prejudiced eyes. Successful people always have their right-hand men and women to let them know where they can improve. Roping in someone else to inform you of what really happened is invaluable when you want to truly move past your failure.
5. Teach Others
You’re not the only person who can learn from your mistake. Teach others to avoid the kinds of errors you made along the way by sharing your story. All the best stories have flawed characters who make mistakes, so your failure could be a powerful speech or essay or presentation that others could learn a lot from. Think about your favorite biographies or autobiographies. They generally feature brilliant, successful individuals who rose above the failures they made in their lives. Maybe there will be a biography about you someday. Your recent failure could make a great chapter.
Featured photo credit: Portrait of thoughtful young handsome businessman via shutterstock.com
