Have you ever thought to yourself, “How wonderful it would be if god granted me a shield to protect myself from failures in life?” But if you open your eyes to reality, you realise that success and failure are part and parcel of life. On the other hand, if you look at the bright side, failure actually teaches you a lot. It is like that strict teacher you have in school, whose ways you might not understand in the beginning, but in due course, their lessons make you the strongest and wisest.

If you are reading this and you are at that stage of your life where you have built a successful business, you would know what we are talking about. And for those who are just starting out or are midway, this article will provide you the hope that failure is truly the pillar of success.

Read on…

1. Accept that failure is part of life

The first and the foremost thing you can do is, accept the fact that failure is just a part of life. Your whole life isn’t going to revolve around that. You are going to come out of it eventually someday. But till then don’t shy away from it. And only when you wholeheartedly accept your failure can you overcome it.

As a baby, you must have failed several times before learning how to walk, as a child you must have failed a hundred times before learning how to spell your name correctly and as a teenager, you must have had a failed romantic relation. As you grow the list of your failures continue but if you look back, nothing is as it was back then. You have successfully crossed every obstacle and proved your worth. Take this as a learning and move on. 

Also read: Achieving breakthrough results: The process behind it

2. Acknowledge your feelings of hurt and dejection

Unfortunately, we live in a society that believes in honing the skills required to succeed and celebrates our success but teaches us very little to sympathise and have an honest confrontation with ourselves when we fail. It is true that failure may cause emotional wreckage and when it happens, it is difficult to focus on the good things in life.

It is at this point that you must be gentle on yourself. It’s okay to fail! Don’t hide your feelings of hurt. Give yourself some time to heal. If necessary, you can take a few days off to clear your mind. And in that duration, feel every emotion deeply, let them run wild, only then can you emerge stronger from the situation.

3. Understand the reason behind failing

Have an honest confrontation with yourself and find out the reason why you failed. If required, jot down all the reasons that led to the failure. Once you have everything written, it will give you a better perspective to reflect upon those issues and plan ahead the steps to undo them or change them. Most importantly, own your mistakes. This shows that you are a person of integrity and purpose and are willing to make things work. This invokes a sense of faith and confidence among people who work with you or for you.

4. Cull out positivity from your failure

You must have heard people say, “Everything happens for a reason.” It’s true and you just need to make sense out of it. When you fail, you may plunge deep within a well of negativity and self-doubt. We say, embrace that negativity and look at the brighter side of it. It’s difficult in the beginning but not impossible.

Reflect on the lessons this failure is trying to teach you. There could be things you can do better or approach in a different way. Analyse every single aspect of it and work towards achieving better results rather than sulking and getting depressed.

Also read: How to achieve ‘flow state’ at work to enhance productivity & minimise delays

5. Work on it

This is the biggest test of failure. You have analysed everything that needs to be done in order to come out of failure. You need to take the next step to make that failure work for you. Implement the learnings and get started with renewed zeal and energy. Work on a different project and start a new business or anything that you strongly believe in.  You can even restart your business with a better strategy and preparation. Have faith in anything you do and you will see success unfold.

6. Let go of the fear of failure

People like Jeff Bezoz, Bill Gates and Arianne Huffington are classic examples of rebounding from failure. These are people who failed several times, and yet managed to succeed and carve out a niche for themselves in society. What is that one important thing that defined their success? They weren’t afraid of failure.

Often, failure creates a psychological impact on people and makes them fear failure to an extent that they are afraid to step on to the next chapter of their lives. When we fail, we focus our energy so much on just the fear of it that in an attempt to get everything right, we fail once again miserably. This happens because we aren’t letting our minds think freely and without pressure. Has this ever happened to you? If yes, then maybe it’s time to change that habit.

And as J.K Rowling said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case, you fail by default.”

Also read: What ‘The Avengers’ teaches us about everyday business

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