Failure is part of the learning process. Don’t be afraid of it, embrace it. The most important thing to do is to get back up again. Confucious said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
I read recently that some companies actively look for employees who have great failures in their backgrounds along with great successes. The rationale is that these are people who are willing to take risks and who have the flexibility and the capacity to learn from their failures.
It’s not fun to fail though, and it’s hard to get back up when your ego takes a beating. Here are some ways to cope with failure:
- Separate yourself from the failure right away. YOU didn’t fail. It’s just that the plan didn’t work.
- Do something that you find renewing. Spend some time outside. Lose yourself in a good book or movie. Play music. Step away from the failed plan for a little while.
- Use your support network or reciprocal relationship. Visit the person who is most likely to help you feel good about yourself.
- When you’re not feeling so emotional anymore, analyze what happened, and create a new plan. Get back in the game!
Thomas Edison claimed to have tried 10,000 ideas that didn’t work before he created a successful light bulb. You have a few more left in you!
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