We all make mistakes at times...and when we do it's important we can bounce back quickly without retaining an emotional hangover of frustration/guilt/anger/shame....
Here are 5 ways you can make sure that your next failure is in fact a crucial step in your next success...

1. Fail Shamelessly
Failure brings big emotions that don’t make it easy to think straight. We may feel humiliated, exposed, angry & vulnerable. By squaring up to these feelings in the moment, we stop them manifesting deep within. Call them out - they're feelings we expect to experience & they don’t need to be feared, hidden or denied. When we fail shamelessly we acknowledge the impact the experience has & lean in.
2. Fail Authentically
Fail only against standards you set for yourself. We create expectations based on how we will conduct ourselves, what strategies we will call upon & how we will react to changing circumstances. These are the standards by which we hold ourselves accountable - we may not get the result but the learning comes from the process. Did you show up against your standards? If you didn’t, what stopped you?
3. Fail Productively
Turn the volume up on that small voice telling yourself that one day you will look back on this positively. You may not believe it in the moment but ask yourself, what story will you tell about this in the future? Craft that story now - who will you tell it to? Where will you be? How will you be stood? Really imagine this moment, it becomes your next goal to work towards.
4. Fail Efficiently
Like all mental skills we can train our reactions to become more efficient over time. Start to understand what it takes for you to process the big emotions that flare up. Do you need to talk? Exercise? Eat junk? Wallow? Do what you need to do. Recognise this as part of the process of failure & aim to do it as efficiently as you can because once you've handled the emotion you can get to work on the rational parts. When you fail efficiently you commit to getting there without taking longer than needed.
5. Fail Successfully
To become successful at processing failure takes time & practice. It’s messy & unreliable because of the many things that can interfere along the way. It’s one of these things that sounds great in theory but is notoriously hard to implement. And that’s OK. Because failure is something we do a lot of - not always on a global stage but statistically we fail far more than we succeed in our day-to-day lives. Every ‘failure’ is a source of rich information that has power to guide us further & faster towards the things we really want. When you fail successfully you do it consciously & repeatedly until you no longer fear failure. And when we don’t fear failure it's amazing how much success we get.
Let’s celebrate failure with the same passion we would celebrate success!
If you are struggling with a recent 'failure' or would simply appreciate chatting this through to apply it to your own set of circumstances, then please book a FREE intro call with me here.
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