It is ok to fail sometimes - you should just get up and try again

We all know this feeling when something goes wrong or not according to plan. The short answer – yes it sucks, it is disappointing, and nobody likes this feeling of failure. It is however very crucial how we handle our obvious disappointment in those situations. The great news, as with many things in life, we have a choice, and it is a question of the mindset. How we handle failure is an essential characteristic of a true leader. The question here is, when we fail, do we go back into our cocoon of safety, become bitter and never try again, or, after a period of moaning, do we come back at full force and try again to gradually get out of our comfort zone. The latter will let us grow and get where we want to be one day, besides various attempts and failures.

We all know this feeling when we really wanted something, like a move in our career or a new home, and in the end, we were not the ones to get it but someone else. Many of us then automatically jump to the conclusion of failure, negativity and blaming ourselves for even trying. The result is that we eventually stop chasing news challenges, prevent ourselves from going out of our comfort zone and start seeing the world as a dangerous place of constant failures. The good news, this can be prevented if we only try to shift our mindset.

The truth is failure is a good thing. It gives us the chance to reflect, receive feedback and learn from it for chasing our next big opportunity. After something in our life did not work out, it is of course disappointing, however, we quite quickly should learn to move on and not be prevented from chasing challenges and opportunities that are constantly out there in life. If one thing does not work out, surely something else will eventually. The worst we can therefore do is to take it personal and stop trying. If thinks do not work out, maybe it was not the right job or right house for us after all. But this should not stop us from trying hard to get there.

However, rather than immediately chasing the next opportunity, we should listen to ourselves and reflect on what we missed to get there. This will help us improve our performance in the next interview for example, we can work on our strengths and become aware of our weaknesses. We should also reflect on how we were perceives by others that might have prevented the move forward and listen carefully and openly to often very valuable feedback we get.

Then, after that initially period of disappointment and a second phase of inner reflection, we can plan pour next attack with everything that we have learned. We can get up and try again to get that job or that new home. If we would not have failed a few times in the process, we would not have had the chance to really work on ourselves and take away key learning that in the end might just make the difference to get us there eventually.

Failure is therefore not always to be seen as negative. It is part of life and will always be there with us. Not everything can always work out. The question is how we handle it. We should reflect, listen and learn, before we get up again and define our next big challenge or opportunity we want to go after. If we have this mindset to see failure as helpful to get there in the end – we will achieve the goals we desire, it might just take a little longer.