Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A Detour

“Failure is a detour not a dead-end street.” (Zig Ziglar)

Failure can be a valuable teacher. Why are we unable to attain the information this educator can provide us to keep from further failing? Figuring out the lessons failure has are no simple errand even when we’re deep in frustration, embarrassment, resentment, and hopelessness.

To learn from failures, a method is needed to decipher the teachable moments hidden inside that can improve chances of future success. The following guidelines will help you identify important goals in dealing with this topic positively.

1.   Reevaluate variables within your control: Failure can make us feel passive, helpless, and lead us to believe that we’ll never succeed no matter what we try. These feelings are tricks our minds play on us after experiencing failure.

The truth is that we always have more control over things than we realize. We might feel despondent if we failed to get a promotion because our sales figures did not measure up. We tried harder than ever before yet our best efforts were not sufficient. What more can we do?

2.   Reevaluate your execution: Was your effort consistent, or did you experience shortcomings in your work ethic, motivation, or your general mindset? Go back and assess when and why any drops in effort occurred.

 Identifying when you got unmotivated, and which external circumstances derailed your efforts, will allow you to anticipate such events and plan how you to address them in the future.

3.   Reevaluate your planningHow much time did you spend planning the best way to achieve your task before you started? How much thought did you give to anticipating hurdles that might arise to figuring out the solution?

 The majority of us spend little time on this kind of planning, despite the likelihood of unexpected circumstances. Make sure to plan your general strategy, consider potential setbacks, and figure out how to overcome them, before you begin.

4.   Reevaluate your preparationHere again is a step too many of us skip despite it being a rather crucial one. For example, consider someone whose goal is to get healthy by joining a gym and going three times a week.

Her plan can easily get derailed if the babysitter cancels and she has no alternate childcare arrangements. Preparing backup childcare ahead of time would allow her to get to the gym more consistently and to get into the habit more easily, which in turn will increase her chances of persisting toward her goal.

“Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” (Denis Waitley) [i]



[i] Adapted from: “The 4 Keys to Learning from Failure” by Guy Winch
 

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