Failure is something that stomps on our self-confidence and desire to pursue our goals. It has the power to make even the most qualified curl up and retreat, especially as news travels sooo quickly and trolls lay waiting to give uninformed and unwanted opinions. It is a part of life, but you can overcome failure, grow from it, and still achieve your dreams.
A few years back, Disney released an animated movie called Meet the Robinsons that had a deep impact and meaning: celebrate each failure you have because it gives you an opportunity to try again..wiser.
Most people make the mistake of thinking that when they fail at something, they should move on and take it as a sign they were never meant to succeed at it. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
When you’re trying to accomplish something, failure is the best thing that can happen to you. Seriously! Do you think the light bulb was invented the first time around? No! Thomas Edison took thousands of tries to get it just right!
What about the first wheel or the telephone? Of course, it takes multiple tries by multiple people to reach success, but the key point to remember is that you must fail first to know when you’ve succeeded.
Real-Life Examples of Failure
Think of a toddler learning how to walk. Although they give a fair share of tantrums during the learning stages, they pull themselves up after each fall and try to walk again. Instinctively, they’re teaching themselves how to perfect the movement based on their past mistakes. It’s a trial-and-error process!
People struggling with weight loss often feel like failures when they gain weight while dieting. Keeping a weight loss journal can help them track their progress and learn to recognize what triggers backslides, including emotional or physical triggers that can be prevented—learning from these mistakes will teach them how to combat those same problems in the future.
Failure offers another benefit: it opens doors that will allow you to find out what you’re really destined to do. This happens in college all the time.
How Your Experiences Help You Find Yourself
Certainly, you know at least one person who went to college to pursue one degree and as they went through their course work, experiencing successes and failures, they discovered a new career interest and changed their major.
Think of a student who started college to become a nurse, but soon realized what they really enjoy is teaching. The whole reason they were going into nursing was to help educate people to improve their lives. Ultimately, they found the best way to do that is not as a nurse, but as a teacher. There’s nothing wrong with that!
As long as you can learn from your “mistakes,” they’re not mistakes at all – they’re opportunities for success! There’s always something to learn from every situation. Once you understand the lesson, it will make you a better person.
Become Stronger and Wiser
Failure makes you a stronger person. Imagine what it would be like if everything you did always went your way. Imagine that you were successful at everything you attempted your whole life and then one day it happened: you failed! You failed so severely that it caused you to lose everything. How would you deal with that failure if you’d never had to overcome an obstacle before?
Failing allows you to become more resilient, so you can always figure out a way to move forward.
The first wheel may have been square, and it moved, but it was wobbly and eventually fell over. But the inventors never gave up! They figured out how to make it rounder so it could roll smoothly. You can do the same in your life! You can’t give up; you have to pick yourself up and figure out a way to roll forward, stronger than ever!
Action Steps To Overcome Failure:
Learn from failures. Evaluate missteps and brainstorm alternative ways to achieve your goal.
2. What are your takeaways? What skills were you missing? What new can you learn to improve the outcome?
3. Keep a journal of your progress and remind yourself to never give up on yourself. If not this, God has many other accomplishments ahead for you!
There is so much more ahead for you if you invest in the uncomfortableness of gaining strength by learning how to overcome failure. You can do this and succeed!
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According to a growing body of clinical research, mistakes enrich learning if you adopt a positive mindset about your mistakes. Best of all, there are practical steps you can take to transform your mistakes into opportunities.
Change always starts with changing your thinking. How we perceive ourselves is at the core of moving past challenges. Let’s begin your transformation by changing how we think about ourselves.
Words of Wisdom to Learn From Your Mistakes…
Recognize that you can improve. People who understand that intelligence and skills are flexible rather than fixed are more likely to persevere. Your performance improves with practice and effort.
Accept your imperfections. Anxiety can interfere with your ability to do your best. Assure yourself that it’s okay to make some mistakes. For example, maybe you excel at managing projects but are challenged with reports and follow through.
Hold yourself accountable. At the same time, you’ll benefit from taking responsibility for your actions. Analyze situations with a view as to what you can do better instead of worrying about external conditions beyond your control.
Set realistic goals. Ensure your expectations are reasonable. Progress often comes gradually. Most of us first learn to crawl, then walk, then run. Is it practical to think you could learn to count in preschool, then do Calculus in first grade? I have wasted time trying shortcuts only for it to take longer or have to start over.
Limit your risks. It’s easier to learn from mistakes if your health or life savings are not at stake. For instance, hold onto your day job while you research ideas for starting a business.
Engage in positive self-talk. If you’ve been called or call yourself negative things-STOP. You should be your biggest cheerleader! Love and believe in yourself-see your value. When all of those things aren’t enough, I rely on what God says about me. Psalm 139:14 is just one of many things He says about us. Remember past experiences where your efforts paid off. Give yourself credit for striving to do your best.
See the humor in your mistakes.Humor is another powerful antidote. Laughing at setbacks will reduce stress and help you recover faster. I learned to not take myself too seriously. I have to admit some of the things are funny, like what was I thinking…
Give praise strategically. Whether you’re talking with yourself, family, friends, or peers, praise effort rather than intelligence. It encourages you to focus on improving rather than trying to prove you’re smart, valuable, or good enough.
Seek advice from others. If you’re starting to see a pattern in your mistakes, it may help to get some outside assistance and feedback. It’s important to seek advice from someone who has your best interest at heart. Be wary of confiding with individuals who are like crabs in a barrel… you never need to put a cover on the barrel because as soon as one starts climbing up another pulls him back down.
Appreciate the value of a sincere apology. The most painful mistakes we make are often those that affect other people. The willingness to own offer a heartfelt apology and make appropriate restitution helps both parties to heal and move on with their lives.
Position Yourself For Growth – Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Take on tough challenges. Venturing into new areas gives us more opportunities to learn. Stretch beyond your usual boundaries. If your day job is in accounting, volunteer as a tour guide at a local attraction. You get it, right? The idea is to stretch yourself so that you become comfortable despite the situation.
Make educated guesses. Studies show that students acquire more knowledge and retain it longer when they guess at the answers before looking them up.Brainstorm how you would approach a home repair job before consulting a guidebook.
Test yourself.It also helps to test yourself on what you know in order to improve your recall. When you’re learning a new language, drill yourself on vocabulary and grammar. Pick out the questions you get wrong so you can study and test yourself again.
Transform Mistakes Into Opportunities
We all make mistakes, so seize the opportunity to make them work for you. By focusing on getting better at any task, you’ll stay motivated, experience less anxiety, and learn more.
ACTION STEPS:
Accept that mistakes and failure or part of your journey to success
Work on your self-love and acceptance, understanding what you do isn’t who you are.
Fai forward. Learn, revise your game plan, and use the expereince to move forward.
Print this week’s Overcoming Challenges Checklist and post it somewhere visible to be consntly reminded how to transform mistakes into opportunities.
You got this!!! XOXO
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