Bouncing Back From Failure

Setbacks are a common part of the human experience. In the presence of joy and success, there is inevitably failure and despair. Recovering from failure, especially a significant one, can be a very difficult process. Recovery is mandatory to moving on and succeeding. Failures can bring about collateral damage. Often, the toughest damage to deal with is the mental ramifications of a setback.

How Can One Bounce Back From Failure?

The short answer is that recovering from failure has everything to do with reframing your mindset and narrative around failure. In this post, I will detail all the ways you can reset your mindset and get back your winning streak!

What Is Failure?

Let's start off by defining failure itself. Failure is widely known as the inability to achieve something. We often set out various goals and objectives for ourselves. We succeed in some of them. We fail to obtain to some of them.

Recovering From Failure

Failure is a social construct. We are told that if are unable to reach a goal, we have failed. However, this is a very monochrome view of a more nuanced problem. Sometimes, we are unable to reach a goal, because it is not meant for us. There are times, where you can put your best effort forward, do everything correctly, and still not achieve the desirable outcome. This is because that goal was not meant to be in your life's storyline.

Sometimes, our greatest failures open doors to alternate paths that are far better than the path we have planned out with our limited insight. Failures seem like failures in the current moment, because we do not have knowledge of how these instances will benefit our story later.

You will often hear very famous and successful people mention a distressing moment in their life as the best turning point to success. We deem several moments in our life as failure because we lack foresight of their importance.

There are also instances, in which we do not achieve a goal because our methodology is incorrect. This is just a sign to try again, but with a different approach.

Rest And Reflect

First off, take a moment to take a break. Simply allow yourself to reflect on the situation at hand. Don't try to bury or suppress the event. Reflect on it. Write it out and journal it if needed. Get the incidence out of your system. Reflect on your role in the entire situation.

Release Regrets

Failure is a moment in life. It is not the entire story of our life. Allowing yourself to ponder on the "what ifs" and beat yourself up over what you could have done, turns that one moment into a vicious cycle of pain. Regrets inhibit you from moving forward towards success. Do what is necessary to release those regrets and move forward with a clean slate.

Reframe Your Mindset With Gratitude

Often failure is turned into this large ordeal because we simply focus on the negative outcomes. In reality, every situation has a double edge. Where there is bad, there is also good. There has to be some sort of positivity that resulted from your negative situation. Focus on the positive, no matter how miniscule. What we focus on grows. Foster positivity and use it to propel forward.

For example, say you were applying to tons of law schools, in hope of becoming a lawyer. You did everything right. You had competitive grades and a stellar LSAT. You did not get into your top choices. You go into a smaller, less prestigious school. In the moment, not getting into a top school can seem like the end of the world. But, if you really stop to consider the positives, you will see that in a way fate has shielded you from the toxic environment that comes with a prestigious name school.

Find the light in every situation and amplify it.

Failures Bring You Closer To Success

One way to reframe your mindset is to simply look at things from a different angle. Failure is a singular instance in time that perpetuates because of our emotional attachments to that instance. The existence failure means that you have made mistakes and learnt. This means you are ready to level up to the next step, which is closer to success.

As human beings, we only have control over our choices and not their outcomes. A failure can often be protection from a pursuit that could harm you later.

Try not to dwell on it too much. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try a new approach. It can be tough to carry on when those close to us pass judgement and offer audacious opinions. Developing a thick skin is essential to moving forward.

Assess Your Goals And Reasonings

Another thing you can do is to re-assess your goals. Dig into your reasons. Why do you want this goal? Why is it so important? Can you achieve that same fulfillment or gratification elsewhere? Sometimes we want to achieve certain goals for all the wrong reasons. We want something because society tells us we should have it, or because it is our parent's wishes, or because we have fantasized about a certain goal so much that we have removed ourselves from the reality of that goal.

Write down your goals. Break them down into smaller goals. Break those down to achievable steps. In order to succeed, you must be able to break down your path into miniscule steps. Obviously, your path will have twists and detours. That is the nature of life. But you must have a game plan to work off of.

Seek Help And Seek Inspiration

Finally, do not hesitate to reach out around you for help. Reaching out for help can feel like a humbling experience, but it requires the utmost courage. Reach out for help amongst your loved ones. Get that little push you need to be back on your way. Also seek inspiration. Pick up your interests and partake in what you enjoy. This way inspiration will naturally flow to you and provide you with some answers for you to move onto the next step in your journey.

Good luck to all who have experienced some setbacks and failures. Know that your time is coming. Your breakthrough is right around the corner and it can occur at the most random time. The world is a lot larger and has a lot more opportunity to offer than we can actually fathom.

Do not let your limitations decide your destination!