Turn your workplace failures into success stories
Heartbreaks are painful. But, that does not mean we cannot love again in our life. Same is the case with failure. Failures don’t mean that you cannot succeed in the future. They only mean that you need to fight even stronger the next time. Failures, if taken positively, can be the biggest teacher in your life.
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It takes great courage to accept those failures. But, the taste of success is even sweeter when you have gone through the pain of failure before achieving it. I remember reading this article on J.K. Rowling in which she had described herself then as “the biggest failure she knew.” I don’t need to mention here that she was talking before the time Harry Potter had happened.
Not just her, if you look at the life of people that inspire us today, they all failed at some point of their life. It was the sheer will to never give up that made them what they are today.
So, how did they turn things around? That’s the important question. Here’s what I managed to find out after reading the stories of people who made it to the top in their profession -
Take a break
Yes, you failed at something. Yes, you did not achieve what you intended to. So, what? Failing at something does not mean that you cannot do it. It only means that you were not prepared this time around.
Sometimes taking a break, and starting afresh can be the best gift you can do yourself after a failure. Taking some time off from work gives your mind the rejuvenation it needs before getting back to the stress of deadlines, project requirements, and more. So, just relax and take a weekend trip to the wild or whatever you need to get your mind off of the shock of failure.
Clear your mind of negative thoughts
When failure strikes, negative thoughts automatically start to creep in. What started as just a small failure, starts to become a nightmare. Peer pressure, self-expectations and other such stuff can take you into a negative mindset.
This is the toughest phase, but you need to pick yourself up. Meditate and practice mindfulness so that negativity stays away. Yes, failures are scary. But, approaching them with the right mindset can transform these scary nightmares into your biggest lessons for success.
Don’t let your failure define you
“Don’t run away from failures. Embrace them!”. They are the stepping stones of innovation. Failure means that you were willing to take the risk of doing something that no one ever thought of doing. And, that’s the first step of innovation.
As someone has rightly said,”It is the action and innovation that creates success, instead of blocking ourselves from taking risks and fearing of failure.” Who knows the first step at which you failed today might be the stepping stone of something groundbreaking?
Do the postmortem
Being philosophical about embracing failure and to learn from it is one thing. But, doing it in practicality is completely different. And, the first step in transforming your failure into success is to analyze what went wrong.
We cannot rectify something, unless we know what’s the mistake. That’s why, do the post mortem of the end result. Get to see what were the factors on which you were not able to deliver. And, create a plan on how to fix them.
Learn from the mistakes
Once you know about the mistakes, you need to work harder to not repeat them the next time. So shift your focus on rectifying those mistakes. Talk to your team members and get to know what they have to say. You know — sometimes the best advice comes from the most unexpected resources.
So, don’t give up. Just learn, learn and learn a lot. So that the next time you have to work on a similar task you can go out all guns blazing and get the desired outcome.
Come back stronger
“The quickest road to success is to have an attitude toward failure of ‘no fear”. The biggest mistake people make with failures is that they give up. They don’t try to bounce back. The inspirational success story of J.K. Rowling is the perfect fit here. We all know about here multi-million dollar selling books — Harry Potter. But, how many of you actually know the strength she had to bounce back from failures in every facet of life?
In her own words,”Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was. And, began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.”
Each person has his own way of doing things. Sometimes they might challenge the usual. Sometimes they may be a little unconventional. Sometimes they may fail. But, that failure does not mean the person is doing something wrong. Perhaps you are not prepared for it.
It only means you need to pull up your socks. And, begin your voyage with a determination that’s stronger than ever! And, I hope during that phase the points I’ve mentioned here are going to help you in the task.
“Want to become a leader that gets things done? Start using ProofHub!”
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Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She currently runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
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