Overcoming Failure - Practical Tips

Everyone, and I mean everyone, at one time or another has had the feeling of failing. None of us is accomplished at everything. All of us, therefore, at some time or another have succumbed to the loss of personal energy associated with failing.

There are two other statements of fact I would like to convey before I provide a few tidbits to help us travel through the reality of failing at anything, its subsequent impact on our feelings, and how to rebound and resume our daily lives.

The first thing is the definition of failure. Oh we can look in the dictionary and get its contextual meaning, but how does that impact our lives? I think that’s different for everyone. I’m not trying to be cute here, I just want to be real and that reality is that most people have a different perspective about everything - so why not failure? It’s exactly that perception that shapes our view of failing and failure itself. We consider success or failure to be what it is based on what we perceive and believe to be true.

That said, I also believe no one actually fails until they think they do! That, my friends, may be my perspective but I would add that what I see as success and failure may be entirely different when applied to someone else’s life. I know, I know, there isn’t anything new here and I’m not delivering a dissertation on nuclear physics. But, grasping the simple truths of everyday life is sometimes obscured or obstructed by our perspective.

So, here’s tip # 1 - analyze your perspective.

What do you consider success and failure? Write it down. Is this your opinion, or someone else’s opinion that you have adopted through conditioning? Spend some time here; learn what you really think the truth is; do some homework. Discover what you believe. That is very important because it is the foundation for everything else. You will continually come back to what you believe when you have to answer future questions about success and failure, and don’t be afraid to get some help trying to find your answers. Just be sure that when all is said and done the answers are yours and you are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can stand on those things you learned for a very long time!!!

Tip # 2 - Don’t live in a vacuum.

Share both your successes and your failures. I’m not suggesting you go to the highest mountain to shout out your life’s history but, I am suggesting the development of some close relationships that will permit you to speak and listen openly!!! Please don’t forget the listening part. That too, is critical. After all we don’t learn by speaking; we learn by seeing, hearing and doing.

Tip # 3 - Forgive yourself and others.

Forgiveness allows you to move beyond the failure because it breaks the bind that ties you to the past. Even if you can’t manage to forget the transgression right away, forgive immediately so your heart is not bound to any event that is in the past because you cannot do anything about it. Spend your energy moving forward on projects that matter now and for the future.

Tip # 4 - Get started on something new

Don’t wait one second to begin a new project or program. Don’t delay in entertaining new thoughts. As the Apostle Paul would say, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Get rid of all of the old and bring in the new and most importantly…ACT…even if you need help to get started, find it and get moving.

Tip # 5 - Exercise!

Not just the body. The mind and body work synergisticly. So if one is out of shape, the other will suffer. Get the body and the mind disciplined and begin to exercise them both. As you begin to strengthen both your body and your mind, the paths that lead you away from failure and toward success widen and they become more inviting.

Tip # 6 – Don’t Give Up

Buddha said, "The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows."

Don’t entertain the thought of giving up. Don’t forget, you are what you think. So this bears repeating, “Never give up, even when it seems you are standing alone, stay in the fight, because when you are ready to quit, you are the closest to victory and even closer to knowing your self.

Tip # 7 – Look beyond your current circumstance.

Admit your mistakes, ask for forgiveness and favor, and remind yourself that you are loved, then move on. Viktor E. Frankl says, “Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued, it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or a by product of ones surrender to a person other than oneself.”

I leave you with a couple of quotes on failure!

"There are no failures; just experiences and your reactions to them." – Tom Krause

“Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.” – Hank Aaron