There are many ways to look at failure. You can either sulk or cry about it, making it a part of your identity or get back up on your feet to make the most of it, using it as a learning experience for your next attempt. Failure may range from simple, honest mistakes like forgetting to pick up your kids from school to grave ones like getting fired for taking a risk or a failed attempt at an entrepreneurial venture. But the emotion and weight you attach to it really determines its true meaning for you.
Below are strategies to help you cope with failure as best you can.
5 Ways To Cope With Failure
"It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts."– Zig Ziglar.
1. A Support system that helps you bounce back quicker
Whenever failure has you falling down in the dumps, try and talk it through with someone who can understand what you are going through and provide helpful and workable advice. If it is a loved one who can do that, there’s nothing better as you can be more open with them about what you are going through, and remove that clutter from your head that is hindering your performance
2. Be an opportunist with the right attitude
Respond to circumstances with a positive attitude, as the right attitude gets you where you need to go. So analyze your circumstances critically while keeping your attitude positive. This will let you can come up with more solutions and options than if you were feeling down because of a setback.
3. Experience the highs and the lows with full fervor
This helps you put things into a better perspective than if you just let the good circumstances flow and ignore the bad ones when they come your way. It paves the way for a better, informed decision compared to if you experience only one side.
4. Take it to your head, not heart
“The real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”– Henry Ford.
Take every failure as a learning opportunity and try to implement what you learnt in your failures to your new ventures. Try not to take every little thing to heart and take things a bit slower when they start to get overwhelming. If you found that you didn’t research about the industry you were entering or you didn’t communicate with the existing employees, suppliers or customers of your company, you need to do that the next time around when you try to operate in a new industry.
5. Be thankful and count your blessings
Being thankful for whatever you have will not only give you much to look forward to, it will also improve your health as you will feel better about your situation, even though you just suffered through a failure. Be thankful for your family, your health, the opportunities you gained, etc. Being grateful also puts stress of everyday life in perspective, making it easier to realize gains and opportunities that you would have missed because of your anxiety.
