4 Best Ways To Respond To Failure

The word failure is what no one wants to relate with. It is a circumstance that can weaken our mindset and our beliefs. And if not properly managed, can affect our progress in life.

As long as you are aiming to reach the climax of your career or profession, then it is possible to encounter failures along the process.

Failure is inevitable, and no matter how you try to shy away from it, it is bound to happen at some certain stage.

Almost everyone has experienced failure at least once . Failure comes in many forms. Failure in marriage, business, career, academic and social or political ambition.

Show me a man or woman who has never failed, and I will show you someone who has never tried something different, someone that has never tried to create or innovate.

Many of the technologies, electronics, machines and other forms of innovations we are enjoying today were all invented by men and women who tried and failed but never gave up.

What is Failure?

Failure can be seen or defined in two major perspectives either in abstract form or in a physical form.

Failure can be defined as the state of not being able to achieve desired goal or layed down objectives.When things tend to go in the opposite instead of how it was planned to run , then failure is set to occur.

To put it in a very simple and straight form, failure is the direct opposite of success.

The word failure can also be seen as a breakdown in a process or malfunctioning of a system.

How People Perceive Failure

credit:BBC

To be very realistic, no one expects or wants to come across failure when they are testing a theory, running an algorithm or trying to achieve something, but as we stated earlier , failure is inevitable.

It can happen even when all possible measures to prevent it have been put in place, and in situations like this, it can be disappointing and discouraging.

How we react to failure determines if you are going to fail again or we will learn from our mistakes.

Many people perceive or respond to failure in a wrong approach or manner. It is a sad situation when I see people being totally broke because of failure.

They see failure as the end of the road, they begin to question their competencies, capacities and experience in their various areas of interest.

The rate at which a single failure discourages people is alarming. Many deprive themselves from taking risks just for the fear of failure. They are scared of failing.

Moreover, people also see failure as a form of misfortune. They believe failure occured because they are less fortunate.

Nevertheless, we should never be discouraged, stop trying or feel less competent just because we have failed. 

There are a lot of helpful lessons we can learn from failures instead of just giving up.

Possible Causes of Failure

Though failure is a possible occurrence in whatever project we intend to embark on, some failures can be easily avoided.

Below are the possible causes of failure:

Lack of proper planning: When you fail to plan , automatically you are planning to fail.

Before you embark on any project, ensure that you have a proper plan on how the objectives of the project will be achieved.

Wrong Team Selection:Picking the wrong set of people to work with,can cost you a lot. Wrong team selection can lead to failure.

Negligence: Sometimes failure wouldn't have happened if we were diligent in our duty post or whatsoever was committed to our hands. A single form or negligence can result in failure.

Lack of seriousness: You may fail in your endeavour if you are not disciplined enough. You should be serious and diligent in whatever you do.

How To Respond To Failure

When we encounter failure in marriage, business , career or any kind of projects, we should understand that there is something we are not doing right.

Jumping to a conclusion that you are a failure or being discouraged just because you failed is not the best way of responding to failure.

We need to come to a common understanding that every failure comes with a lesson to learn, it is an opportunity for us to re-accessed ourselves to know where we got it wrong.

These tips will help you respond to failures in a more technical and professional way that will help you improve and prevent such things from happening.

Best approaches to failure:

Acceptance: First of all when failure occurs, you need to accept the fact that you have failed. There is no point of shying away from failure.

When you fail to acknowledge the fact that you have failed, it will be hard for you to learn and make corrections.

Reasons for the failure: Even doctors and engineers perform diagnosis tests before knowing how to go about the treatment or repair.

The same thing applies to failure. When it occurs, calm down and ask yourself what actually went wrong. 

Making thorough research and findings to what caused the failure will help you avoid future occurrences.

Ensure to identify the accurate reasons why the failure occurred and take appropriate action.

See failure as a means of improvement: Thomas Edison, one of the fathers of modern physics , failed numerous times before he was able to come up with the invention of the electric bulb.

The whole laboratory was set ablaze and destroyed before he could come up with the invention we are all enjoying today.

Failure is not meant to make you feel inferior or less relevant, you can utilize failure by working out for improvement.

See failure as a means of improvement and encouragement for greater tasks ahead.

Failure as a means of discovery

Thomas said he never failed 1000 times but he discovered 1000 ways that will not work.

This means he saw failure in a different way. He had a different mind set upon his reaction to failures.

Failure can be another form of discovery.

 Through failure you can discover things that wouldn't work if they are done this way or that way.

Summary

Failure abound when we fail to achieve or reach our life goals or the objectives of a particular project.

However,it should not be the end of the road or the last time we try. 

We should be humble enough to accept failure, take corrections , improve upon ourselves and then try again.

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