How to Overcome Failure in 5 Steps

The way you look at what is considered to be a failure makes all the difference in how you deal with it. While the normal reaction to a perceived failed business or project is identifying yourself as a failure as a person, this should not be the case. Below you will find how to overcome failure in 5 steps.

The truth is, failure is a part of the process on the path to success. Failure, in other words, is not the inability to reach success, but a part of achieving it.

The way you deal with failure is what will determine your ability to turn things around. There are two types of attitude once you are faced with a failure: one is feeling defeated and giving up, the other is dusting off and proceeding adopting what’s been learned from the experience. I’ll let you decide which determines a future winner.

When things don’t go the way you planned, the easiest thing to do is to throw the towel and give up. It feels impossible to keep going. That’s when I pause and feel grateful: if it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Only the really motivated ones will keep up despite the failures – or as I call them, temporary failures – and keep at it.

Here are the 5 steps on how to overcome failure:

Have a Plan B

There is a risk involved with any new business start, and you should not go into one expecting immediate success. I tend to not pay attention to the articles that cite the numbers of businesses that fail in their first year, because what you focus on expands, and I prefer to focus on my goals. But that doesn’t mean I will deny there are risks, and not be ready for things to not go as planned. Take calculated risks.

One thing I see a lot on the online world is people being advised to jump into the entrepreneurial world with two feet, and soon with the right mindset and lots work, the money will follow. That’s probably true, but often it takes time. It is important to manage your risks. You don’t want to run out of provisions because you assumed you would be successful sooner than later.

So make sure you have contingency plans and don’t put yourself in a situation you can regret later. Yes, you should expect the best. But you should also prepare for the worst. That way, if some temporary failure comes your way, you will learn from it, and not be left in a too difficult situation.

Besides, having peace of mind will do wonders for your mindset, helping you progress much faster on your road to your goals.

Take the Lesson

So, you took a hit. You bought the program/course and it brought you no results. You showed up for the conference/event but made no sales. You invested in the inventory and could not pass it on. You made a partnership and ended up being robbed…

The first thing to do is to assess the losses. Can anything be recovered or fixed? It doesn’t mean it’s all over when something has gone wrong. Be creative. Ask peers for advice. Sometimes there are solutions you didn’t think of. Sometimes all it takes is to pivot.

Take notes. What went wrong, and why? When I worked with IT, at the end of each project we had to fill a document with the list of lessons learned, what went well and what didn’t. Unfortunately they forgot to review them at the beginning of the following projects…

Joke aside, that’s the point – learn and don’t make the same mistakes again.

That way, you will know better what to avoid in your next endeavors. Experience teaches better than words.

Don’t Let it Stop You on Your Tracks

Depending on how the experience shook you, the feeling of frustration can be debilitating. It’s ok to take some time to process it, take it all in, and let it go. Key words being “let it go”. Allowing a bad experience to halt your efforts to move into a better place in life will make this temporary, a permanent failure.

Don’t let your thoughts about how you could have done better or avoided this bring you down. Focus on what is ahead, and will be better from now on. You didn’t know better then, now you do. Don’t be hard on yourself.

Otherwise, it has the potential to bring you down and make you believe there’s no point in continuing anymore. Instead, do not take it personally and seek company of people who will help bring you back up to your feet.

Don’t listen to the naysayers. Remember that only those who try, fail. Anytime I burn food in the kitchen I tell my husband, that only happens to those who are cooking.

That’s how you get experience and learn what it takes to be a winner. Read this article on how to keep your motivation up if all you want is to give up.

The longer you allow negative feelings to drag you over the “what ifs”, the harder it will be to get the ball back rolling. Don’t lose your momentum.

Action brings clarity. Devise a new plan if necessary. Get help if necessary. But get back on the saddle.

That’s the best attitude, and the winner attitude, of learning how to recover from failure.

Don’t Let All Else Come Down

Way too often, when in a state of sorrow, people will give up their healthy routines entirely and recoil in a corner. They stop seeing the people they love, doing the things they love… they will stop living.

Letting frustration take over your life and stop you from doing all the things you usually do will only make things worse. Even if you don’t feel like it, this is the most important time to bee seeking what makes you feel safe and happy, to rebound from the feelings of having failed. Ask for help if you need to, but don’t stop going to the gym, spending time with your family, or going out with your friends.

And don’t stop following your dreams.

It may feel like going through the motions for a while, but soon you will feel more like yourself again. You will start to feel better. Release the guilt. Everybody (who is working to get somewhere) will fail at some point.

Restart

Understand that a failure is actually a temporary failure, or a learning experience, if you choose to look at it this way. Yes, it may be a painful experience, but don’t associate yourself with it. You are not a failure because you have failed.

You get to now take the learnings from the experience and apply it to your next try. And that is how you will be getting each time closer to the success you have been searching for.

Adjust the sails, take a longer path, but keep the destination.

In the end, overcoming a failure has a lot to do with dealing with your mindset and how it deals with it. When you have a constructive mindset towards failure you will always come up stronger on the other side – and ready to restart on a more aligned path.

Congratulations! You’re back on track.