Coming back after failure
Tips on making failure a stepping stone for greater success.
By: Simran
All of us have failed at activities before, whether it is ruining a cake we were trying to bake or not doing as well as we thought we would on an exam. The hardest thing for many after failing is finding a way to bounce back from the failure. It is very easy to let that failure control you. After struggling at a task, we sometimes find ourselves feeling disappointed. and not sure how to move forward. However, the only way to improve oneself is by using that failure to learn and improve.
- Having the Right Attitude
This might be a cliché, but it is very helpful. The right attitude can make a big difference. Thomas Edison once said that “Many of life’s failures are people who didn’t realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Think about that for a second. It is easy to dwell on failure. After all, failure stings. It hurts to know that you weren’t as good as you thought you were and that even though you put some effort, you weren’t successful. However, the thing you need to remember is by dwelling on failure, you are not allowing yourself to succeed. If you continuously think about failure, not only are you wasting your time and energy, you are limiting yourself. It is much harder to believe that you can become successful if you simply focus on how you went wrong the last time. Instead of thinking about your failure as all the mistakes you did, try to think of it as all the things you can improve on. Don’t think of it as the failure; think of it as a practice to get more successful next time.
2. Analysis
The next thing to do is to figure out where you went wrong. Analyze some of the mistakes you have made. Some things you might want to think about: Did you put enough time? Did you put enough effort? Were you focused enough on your goal? Was there something holding you back? And the most important thing, how can you improve? What will you do this time around that you weren’t doing before?
Now that you realize one of the mistakes you made,, you will have to change your habits. You might need to spend more time or have less distractions. You will have to create a new schedule, so you can set aside more time for this activity. Maybe, your performance was due to not understanding a concept well. In that case, it is important to take the time to find what concepts you had mistakes in, review those concepts thoroughly till you are sure you understand it. You might want to look at online resources for more information and practice problems.
Asking others for their perspective can also be helpful. Teachers, parents, family, and friends may be able to give you advice on what you were doing wrong and may be able to help you get better. Sometimes you are too close to what you are doing that you miss important points. Asking for others’ perspective may help you in seeing the big picture.
3. Setting Goals
Try setting a new goal from your failure. Maybe you realize that a former goal you have set for yourself is no longer attainable. That’s fine. Even though you may have to move your goal back, now you can create another goal that is more realistic. You may even be able to add things you’ve learned from your failure that you can try to achieve. Having a more clear goal increases motivation and it allows you to focus on being successful.
4. Finding the Positives
Remember the saying ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’. Even though failure is not something you wanted, there are some positives. You can use this failure as a chance to redo something again to make it better. Not only that, by coming back after failure, you have put a lot more work and time to do better next time. Think about how proud you’ll be when you realize how much effort you’ve done to make things a success. Failure also allows you to refocus on what is important, your motives for performing this activity. Many times, we find ourselves doing an activity and losing our enthusiasm. We lost sight of your motives, making this activity seem more of a chore than something we enjoy. Failure is a time when we can touch base with our motives for doing this activity, helping us to be more enthusiastic and passionate about activity.
