How to Recover from Workplace Failures in 7 Steps
Take the time to reflect on the mistakes of your past to make big changes for the future
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
Growing up I was raised in a family that taught what people thought of you was one of the most important things to focus on. I was told to do (and not do) many, many things in my life for the sake of perception and appearances. “Of course we had to go to church, what would the neighbors think if we weren’t there?” “You must get a well-paying job so people know how successful you are.” Some of the things I was told to do were not necessarily bad on the surface, but I was told to do them for the wrong reasons, and those reasons stuck with me.
This conditioning carried over into my time as a submarine officer. All I really cared about was what the crew thought of me. I wanted to be their favorite officer. I wanted to be their friend. I did whatever I thought they would want me to do. I went out to bars and drank with them and quite frankly, I drank too much because I thought it made me fun and likable. I was never hard on them, and did not do a good job upholding the Navy’s standards. So they took advantage…
