Find Success in Any Failure
Failure happens. It happens to everyone, regardless of what you might see or hear. Few people post or advertise the moments of their lives that do not go as planned. People carefully craft Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat posts to show how well they are doing - usually not sharing when they are flat on their face or licking their wounds from a poor decision or outcome.There are several steps anyone can take to help move through the key stages of post-failure recovery. These steps can be as long or short as they need to be based on the scale of the failed activity. For simple things, it could be a matter of minutes. For significant setbacks, the process may take days, weeks, or even longer. Based on discussions and personal experience, though, most people go through some form of these phases. The more you do so consciously, the bigger the benefit and quicker the healing can happen to get moving again.
Acknowledge it
Step one of any multi-step process is usually to accept the fact that something unexpected and unwanted has occurred. There is little sense in trying to ignore that you made a mistake or have failed at something you attempted to accomplish. It is not always easy to make this step, but it is essential to the learning and healing process.
Own it
Personal accountability. There may be many factors that lead to the outcome you have just experienced. Part of acknowledging the failure is the ability to also look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. There is always something you could have done differently. Take that step back and own the pieces that are yours. You don’t have to tell anyone about your internal conversations - but have them and accept them. As difficult as this may be, it will be what sets you free to be able to try again in the future.
Process it
There are multiple parts of processing a failure in your life - business or personal. This is the time to be sad. It is OK to be upset and to mourn the thought that you goofed, or that despite your best efforts, your idea did not come to fruition. We are all human. We have emotions, and failing at something is an emotional experience. Feel what you need to feel and take time to process it. Ideally, you will have a mentor or trusted partner that you can talk through your situation. This will certainly help get through this step faster.While processing the situation, this is also the time to see what can be learned from the situation. I might consider this a Part A and Part B of this step. I believe they go hand in hand, though, thus why I keep it as a single step. You can learn from your feelings. The learning component of processing your failed action will ultimately set you up for being able to succeed in the future. If you journal (and I encourage that), that may be your best tool during this step. Write how you feel, what you learned, and even why you think you ended up with the results that you did.
Adjust
Now that you have processed your feelings from the situation and captured some of the learnings, you can begin to decide what you will do differently. What changes can you make as you progress forward? Every failure is an experience to learn and grow from. Everyone has been there - even if they don’t remember it. This process is essentially how we learn to crawl, walk, ride a bike, or learn a new sport. We make small changes to our actions, assess our new situations, and continue the process. Applying this same thinking to our adult lives is no different - we are just more conscious of the choices we are making and more keenly aware of the different potential outcomes.
Start again
Every step is important in this process, but without taking this final step, the rest almost seem in vain. Choose your favorite cliche, but ultimately we have to get back in the saddle and ride again. A failure does not have to mean a full stop. It is a roadblock, an obstacle to overcome. Shaking off the fears and uncertainty can be a huge challenge, but ultimately one that must occur. Remember, everyone has been there. We have all experienced failures of all kinds, and the most successful people have both failed and restarted the most.There are countless examples of how what we consider the most significant breakthroughs or changes in our lifetime that were born from earlier failures. Almost every success came from an earlier failure - few people get it exactly right the first time. Give yourself a break, work your way through these five steps, and know that your success is just ahead of you.What has been a failure you experienced that ultimately you overcame by processing it and making changes for the better?Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive FREE leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills all at no cost. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash