Failure is something we all try to avoid, but it is something that everyone has experienced at some point in their life. Failure does not have to be the end of the road or even a dreaded outcome. Failure has the potential to be the best motivator and educator available if you are willing to embrace it. The most successful, innovative, and intelligent people have failed at something along their life path. Names like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and J.K Rowling, to name a few, all had huge failures in their lives but kept moving forward until their names became synonymous with success. Failure never held them back from their goals.
In all honesty, failure is humbling and can be painful. Sometimes the fear of failure or failing again keeps us from even trying. As humans when we experience failure, we tend to dwell on it, give it power over our emotions, and allow it to box us in to a safe secure space where failure is not an option. Think about how many times a person passes up a promotion, avoids a task, or will not join a team because they are fearful of the chance of failure.
The key is to not let failure make you believe that all subsequent projects are going to end in failure as well. There are healthy means to get past a failure at work, including these six ways:
Step 1. Own it.
Confession is good for the soul. If you made a mistake, you should own up to it with your manager and explain what occurred. This accomplishes a few tasks, it keeps your boss in the loop and therefore not surprised, it lets your boss assist in correcting the issue, it allows the damage control to begin quickly, and shows that failure was unintentional and that you can be trusted not to cover things up. Avoid falling into the trap of making excuses or passing out blame because it will only make you look unprofessional.
Step 2. Let it go.
Like Elsa famously sang in Frozen, "Let it go." Dwelling on your failure will not change the outcome. Taking a step forward and leaving behind the negative head space is your first step in getting on with your life and your career. The failure happened, now you must learn from it and move on.
Step 3. Be a part of the solution.
The failure occurred, there is no way to change that, but you can prepare plans to correct the issue and make provisions for the failure not to happen again. Most people are forgiving when they see that what occurred was not done with malicious intent.
Step 4. Find the silver lining.
Believe it or not, almost everything that has failed or gone wrong has some sort of silver lining. Sometimes you will have to dig deep to find the silver lining, but it is there. The silver lining can be huge, or it could be as simple as a nugget of wisdom you gained from the unfortunate event
Step 5. Learn the Lesson.
Each failure is a lesson on what not to do next time. Analyze what went wrong, and what circumstances could have corrected the problem. Why did you fail? Was it a lack of training, did you not possess the needed resources, or were you unprepared? Define the root cause and use it to correct the deficiency.
Step 6. Remember that yesterday is history.
Each new day is a new opportunity to get things right. Leave your mistakes in your past. Once you have owned up to the failure, cleaned up the mess, and examined why you fell short, take the lesson from the failure and try again. The past does not define you so don't let it hold you back from success.
One of the bravest and most freeing things a person can do is to unemotionally examine the failure, forgive themselves for it and move forward to try again. Making a mistake in your career is inevitable, yet we all fear it occurring. By knowing how to effectively bounce back from a failure at work, we can all become the best and most mindful employees we can be, all while avoiding the discouraging feeling of failure on the job.
