Hello all !
Let me start off by wishing you all a prosperous 2017!
Before I say anything else, I have a confession to make - don'e be overtly critical of me, but let me start off by saying - I've failed. A lot. I've failed in different pursuits of life in ways that were unimaginable to me.
While some failures were soon forgotten about, some were devastating. Landing my dream job, failing to grow my first venture into a successful idea due to lack of time and my inability to put theoretical knowledge to practice at times...to name just a few. Let's face it: failing sucks. Almost all of us would have loved to be successful the first time, but that is not how life works. And the idea of failure sometimes prevents us from even trying to begin with.
Failure, especially repeated failure, can be hard to bounce back from. It can specially crush your confidence to unfathomable extents.It might get to the point where you might wonder, Why even try? It can be extra tough when you feel you’re doing your best, and your best isn’t good enough.
Failure is inevitable. It doesn’t feel good, but it is a part of life. Instead of fearing failure, here are some ways to help you bounce back and regain your confidence when it does happen.
1. What did you learn? - We often fail so we can learn. If you haven't failed before and are all perfect, you sound pretty boring to me. What can you do differently in the future? How will this set you up for you next project you decide to take up? Most importantly, what did you learn out of the experience? An answer to the above can help us see that our time and efforts aren’t wasted - we’ve come out this a smarter, more able than before.
2. Consider the long-term view of things. Always - Sometimes, we think that we must succeed almost immediately. Maybe you feel that your business will be an overnight success or that new skill that you learnt will be mastered almost instantly. So, check your expectations to see that they don't cause distress to you. Look at the long-term view of things. Consider this: “Success is like growing bamboo.”
Bamboo seems like it takes a long time to grow. For the first five years, you don’t really see much happening. Just a tiny shoot. For five years.What we don’t see is what’s happening underground. Its roots are pushing through the dirt, growing in complexity - setting the foundation. And then, its growth explodes and the tree can rise by up to a meter a day.
Success is the same way. Look at your failures as setting the foundation. Take the long-term view and grow your bamboo.
3. Failure is not a reflection of who you are - Our brains are funny things, and they respond to threats that sometimes aren’t there. Some of those threats are things that make us look foolish or lesser in the eyes of others.We don’t want to fail. But failure is not a reflection of who you are. Your reaction to failure is.
It’s your call whether to pick yourself up or not. If anyone judges you based on your failures, that’s their problem, not yours!!
I hope you all have a great 2017 ahead!!
- Yash
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