Handle Failure

I haven’t heard of any person who has not had a taste of a single failure in life; we all succumb to mistakes. The difference between successful people and ordinary people is how they handle failure. There are people who handle failure so well. They may feel sad; they may cry and feel sorry for themselves. They may be demotivated and may even be depressed. But this situation they are in will last only for a short while. They quickly recover. We all agree that we need to triumph over failures; but still majority of us finds handling failures a challenge. I am reminded by a quote from Winston Churchill "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." How should we handle failure? How do we get the courage to press on? It all starts with having a different perspective. We need to understand that failure is a fertile training ground. You may fail at your first attempt in putting up a business. You may have lost a lot of money and it has become difficult to get up. Whatever happened, you need to get up. You need to analyse and review what went wrong. Look for the gold nuggets from your failure. Using your failure as a lesson, think of different techniques and tactics. Probably, you should start small the next time you put up a business. Starting small may create a smaller profit but return on investment is realised sooner. Start small and grow your business at a steady pace until you feel comfortable at investing more and earning more. Test different ways to market your product or service. Each failure trains you to be stronger, better and more experienced than before. Failure is a fertile training ground that improves your skill, knowledge and your personality. Failure is a normal occurrence. As I said, I have yet to find a person who has not had a single failure in his or her life. The pain of failure becomes more intense if we wallow in it; if we keep thinking about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. It is okay to have a pity party but keep it short. Use that pity party to think of what happened – what you should have done to avoid the failure and what you should now do to turn the failure into success. Start counting your blessings. Stop thinking that you are the only person suffering failure. Remember that all people experience failure. Failure is a temporary setback. It is not permanent as long as you take action in handling failure properly. Do not dwell in the pains of the past. Every day is a new day; a new start. Be hopeful. A positive attitude will help you to think clearly and constructively to create a new beginning towards success. Face failure; handle failure with the courage to get up and try again.