Seven Outstanding Ways to Overcome Failure and Succeed

No matter how hard we may try, no matter how prepared we believe we are, and no matter how much support we have, things do not always work out as planned – it’s a cliché, but we really can’t win‘em all. However, many of us find these failures both personally and professionally distressing. It can hurt to fail, and sometimes a failure can even make us question our own capabilities. If we are unable to see our failures in perspective, in the context of life overall, they can be inordinately disruptive.
However, Tony M. Fountain believes that failure can be used as an opportunity to learn, grow, and consolidate a base of experience that can serve as a strengthening and character-building moment in our lives. Everyone has failed at some point in their lives: losing a job, blowing an important exam or interview, a business venture falling apart, a failed project…the list is a long one.
However, rather than feeling sorry for themselves or giving up completely, the most successful people are able to experience, reflect, interpret, and build on their failures, to essentially make themselves stronger and more focused. Tony Fountain asks “How do you build such resilience and transform failure into success?” and answers this question with seven things to consider:

No matter how hard we may try, no matter how prepared we believe we are, and no matter how much support we have, things do not always work out as planned – it’s a cliché, but we really can’t win ‘em all. However, many of us find these failures both personally and professionally distressing. It can hurt to fail, and sometimes a failure can even make us question our own capabilities. If we are unable to see our failures in perspective, in the context of life overall, they can be inordinately disruptive.
However, Tony M. Fountain believes that failure can be used as an opportunity to learn, grow, and consolidate a base of experience that can serve as a strengthening and character-building moment in our lives. Everyone has failed at some point in their lives: losing a job, blowing an important exam or interview, a business venture falling apart, a failed project…the list is a long one.
However, rather than feeling sorry for themselves or giving up completely, the most successful people are able to experience, reflect, interpret, and build on their failures, to essentially make themselves stronger and more focused. Tony Fountain asks “How do you build such resilience and transform failure into success?” and answers this question with seven things to consider:

1. Find the root cause of your failure
   Take a close look at what you were trying to accomplish in the first case, then analyze your intentions and objectives to see if there were any obvious signs that might have doomed your plan from the outset. Don’t let failure cause you to abandon your dreams! Instead, adjust your focus: revise your purpose, reassess your capabilities and the realities of the situation, and use these to create a more realistic, achievable end-state. “If there is any part of you that still wants your goals to become a reality, you shouldn’t give up.”
2. Overcome the fear of failure, then try again
   Your quest to succeed should be more of a driving force than any fear or self-doubt. Pushing yourself helps you grow as a person and a professional, whereas staying within your comfort zone can lead to stagnation. Do you have a challenging job, or are your tasks boring and routine? How about your study program? Fountain suggests that success can come from a calculated risk (as opposed to an unthinking gamble!) when you begin to push your capabilities beyond their present, perceived, limits. “Let your dreams motivate you as you take that bold step into the unknown, guided by your goals.”
3. Take a break if you have to, but don’t give up
   Fountain cites Alibaba founder Jack Ma as an entrepreneur who suffered more than his fair share of failures. He was rejected ten times by Harvard, and was consistently denied the jobs for which he applied in his native China before he finally found success. Although he took time off to reflect on his failures and consider how to redirect his efforts based upon what he had learned from them, he never gave up on his dream of success and fortune. And the result of his persistence? According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Ma now has a net worth of $52.2 billion, and compares life to a boxing match: “If you are a boxer in a ring, you have to get used to being hit, because that is the only way you will win.”
4. If you fail again, compartmentalize and remain objective
   Failure can be destabilizing and make you distrustful – of both yourself and others. Losses are not easy to take, whether in the form of money, friends, family, or time, and they can dissuade you from ever taking a chance again. As you have just as many chances of failure as success, Fountain counsels that you should not expect to fail, but understand that you might. This way, a failure will not upset your whole life. “Maintain focus on your goals. Think of [failure] as a learning experience.”
5. Don’t be tempted to lower your ambitions
   It’s all too easy to become discouraged after a failure, especially if the loss is a big one. It would take a superhuman effort to simply let serial losses go, cheerfully pick up the pieces and carry on. Since most of us are not superhuman, you can instead choose to accept the discomfort – accept that you are human and that losses are sometimes painful. However, do try to stay focused; if you don’t, you may begin to reduce your objectives to a shadow of their former selves. It can help to separate the component parts of your objective and address them individually: “Accomplish your goals one task at a time.”
6. Find like-minded people who can help you see things differently
   No good can come of efforts to bottle up your feelings and frustrations when you’ve had a setback, especially if the objective was important to you. This could damage your desire to continue with your projects, perhaps permanently. Seeking out people who can understand what you’re experiencing is not a sign of weakness! In addition to a sympathetic ear, you may also receive advice that can give you a new perspective on the way forward. Staying objective is important too; getting too much into your own head is rarely helpful. Fountain recommends finding an interlocutor who is your exact opposite – for example, if you are an analytical type, you should find someone who is more global in their outlook so that their skills and perspectives can complement your own.
7. Own your mistakes, and stay the course
   It is easy to look for scapegoats when we make mistakes. We often respond to our own failings by demanding “Who did this to me?” Fountain points out that successful people have the fortitude to own their mistakes, because this realization enables them to learn from their errors. If you always blame someone else for your problems, where is your learning, and where is your growth? Without the learning process that failures bring about, “failure becomes meaningless, torturous and something that you seek to avoid every minute of your day.”
   In conclusion, Fountain assures us that it’s normal to fail. But, when you do, “stay calm, analyze the cause, devise a plan of action, and then keep going.”