Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Sir Winston Churchill
Even if one is born with the proverbial golden spoon, failure is an unannounced visitor that will drop by at the most inopportune moment. For the less fortunate, failure is a constant companion, despite the best efforts to befriend success. Failure obviously conjures a negative, unsavory and avoidable image in our mind and so we often side step the issue of failure even if it is looming large or literally staring us in the face. Escapism is the first reaction of those who are paranoid about failure. However escapism is only a temporary relief with the probability of it turning into catastrophe remaining very real. So the question uppermost in our mind is ‘How can we cope with failure’?
The first step is to accept the reality that failure is an unavoidable evil that we cannot escape from. Once we are prepared to accept this reality, then we are prepared to face it fairly and squarely when we stumble upon it or when failure pays us a visit. Most times, we cannot recognize failure because we are not prepared to believe that we can fail. Accepting the reality about failure, allows one to be forewarned and forearmed to identify and square up with failure when the time comes. More importantly we won’t brush aside failure as just a passing phase but we would give it the importance that it deserves so that we learn from it and use the learning to our advantage.
This brings us to the second step in tackling failure viz. learn from our failures. This is a very tough step because the natural tendency when we fail is to rationalize it. In addition we try to find a scapegoat to blame or conjure up numerous reasons to deflect attention to our own shortcomings that was responsible for the failure. There are times when the failure is taken so personally that we try to blank it out completely but refusing to analyze it or even talk about it. On the other hand we must pay attention to our failures and study it closely to find out the reason for our failure. That way one can pinpoint our mistakes and take corrective action.
The final step is to enthusiastically correct the mistakes and never give up pursuing your goal. Correcting a mistake is often very tough because it hurts the ego. To do it enthusiastically takes a lot of conviction and a strong will. The true test of a person’s character is reflected in the person’s ability to not just correct mistakes but to do it with zeal and enthusiasm. Unless the person is enthusiastic the will to learn and improve will be lacking. In the long run to be motivated and pursue ones goal, mistakes have to be taken in ones stride and corrections effected to proceed ahead. True success is not merely in attaining a goal but in also enjoying the process and striving to set bigger, better and even more challenging goals. It is when one can enthusiastically overcome every failure that one has developed the right mindset to pursue success, more success and still more success.
Remember: “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Herman Cain
Try this:
- Take a daily news paper and attempt to do the crossword or Sudoku or any of the other challenges. The challenge is to do it for at least a week continuously and to enthusiastically work on it and improve your performance. After a week ask if you are enjoying it or finding it painful and laborious. If it is painful and or laborious find reasons for it and work out your won solutions. Eg. If you chose Sudoku and don’t like dealing with figures then change the game to a word game or attempt to like figure work.
- List out 3 aspects of your daily work that you dislike immensely or are prone to make too many mistakes. Attempt to find a way to either like the work / do it efficiently by motivating yourself properly or find an alternative to ensure the job is efficiently done.
This post is courtesy www.actspot.com
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