How To Stand Up On Your Feet: 4 Things To Do When Failures Hit You
Test your strengths by putting a gun to your head
Failures come as a result of our struggles to grow.
You have been told to change the world.
You dream about owning your own business and chart a course for success.
You learn best by failing, but ultimately, you play to win.
Is it always possible?
When failure comes you feel like quitting.
Since 2016 I have been in the online space creating the business I love. I’m not considering myself “successful.” But one thing I am doing well over the years is handling failures effectively.
I have tried 20 different methods to make money. Closed two YouTube channels after 1,000 subscribers and 200,000 views on each of these. Started a blog on MLM company. After publishing 20 posts, they shut down the doors. I took a job in a call center for three months and tolerated a sales-desperate manager. They closed the department without notice.
The amazing part? I got better with failures over time. I learned critical lessons from the journey: If you expect to make something that people care, you have to experience 99 failed efforts before you get it right.
It’s easier to freak out, feel grumpy all day, blame the situation, behave like a flawed human being. And it’s all-natural, but these efforts won’t get you anywhere. You still struggle to take the first step. You still feel imperfect and have doubts. You are uncertain and feel hopeless dread.
I have taken consistent actions to change this mindset and it’s 10x easier to get better with failures. These points may help you too:
1. Use Your Muse.
You feel lost. Your friends think you are a looser. You have invested months of time, effort, and money. You aren’t sure it could make a difference.
Use your muse. Sit alone and be comfortable with yourself. You’re the only person who can help you. When you get over the emotional tirade, you can see a better picture.
Answer these questions:
- Will you continue your pursuit?
- What specific things are holding you back?
- Do you have resources to get over this?
- What steps will you take to get better?
- What is a practical and straightforward way to get where you want to go?
Slowly you begin to see solutions. It’s hard at first, but you develop the crucial habit of success. Mastering your muse.
2. Find Something That Moves You Forward.
As a writer, you think about perfect, effective, and compelling posts. As an entrepreneur, the bank wants you to have $10,000 in hand before you get started.
Focus on what moves you forward right now.
Does it help to journal free-floating thoughts? If so, do that.
Research successful business and implement their tactics, if that’s helpful. ?
Just sit and read, if that’s helpful.
Find whatever it is that moves you forward and engage in that activity.
Success isn’t effortless. You have to open layer after layer. Experiment and find what works.
3. Put a Gun To Your Head.
Put a gun to your head. Not to say a literal gun, but putting yourself in a corner that necessitates action. Hopefully, you’re not down to your last dollars in your bank account, but you get the idea of the scenario we’re talking about.
What will you do if you are without options and want to live? You have an intense fear of not taking action. So, you take a risk.
You can’t procrastinate.
4. Uncertainty Is Permanent.
Most people expect absolute clarity, but you almost always have unknown fears. Most of the things will be foggy. You can try to find a secret formula, but you will still have questions.
The only thing that gets you somewhere is doing something for now. You have to act in fear. With time and continual experiments, you will get a clear picture.
Words From The Heart.
When you decide to do something big, don’t expect it in a few steps. Even in hundreds of steps. You get it in significant thousands of steps. And each step consists of a few failed efforts. Will you invest that much time?
It seems hard, but it’s not. Especially not in terms of effort. Anything you’re doing is small — one article at a time, one step at a time.
Michael Jordan put it best:
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
You don’t need that much effort to get better at failures. And when you have something to stand upon, your confident heart begins to speak.
Stand up. But, this time more thoughtfully and effectively.
