7 Key Methods to Bounce Back from Failure

This is an interesting article discussing how to respond to failure which I came across recently. Failing in life is guaranteed and is something we all face throughout our lives. We can’t avoid failure, but we can choose how we respond.
 
How to Bounce Back from Failure
 
The most famous and successful people in the world have failed the most times, bouncing back has become the hallmark of success. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how painful those failures are.
 
What matters is what you do after the failure. How do you look at that failure? How do you respond? Do you wallow in self-pity, allowing all those negative thoughts to consume you? Or, do you pick yourself right back up again and give it another try?
 
Henry Ford, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in modern history, once said that:
 
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligibly.” 
 
1 — Be Honest with Yourself
 
The first way resilient people bounce back from failure is by being honest with themselves. They don’t try to sugar coat the fact that they failed. They don’t try to use softer words to help lessen the impact of that failure. No. Instead, they’re honest.
 
They’re one hundred percent straightforward about that failure and just how gut-wrenching it was.
 
2 — Don’t Beat Yourself Up Too Long
 
Resilient people who bounce back from their failures, do so because they don’t live in that state of defeatism for too long. Yes, they allow themselves to feel the hurt associated with failure. They don’t escape from it. But they also don’t stay there for too long.
 
While it’s easy to allow resentments and guilts to overcome you on the best of days, you can’t constantly continue to do that. The true hallmark of persistence and resiliency is not allowing the pain of failure to last forever.
 
 3 — Forgive Yourself for Past Mistakes
 
The most resilient people in the world are able to forgive themselves for their past mistakes. The truth is that failure doesn’t happen when we do everything perfectly. We usually mess up in one area of our lives or another. When we’re trying to build a business, our personal mistakes take a toll on our professional businesses or careers.
 
However, we have to forgive ourselves for those mistakes. As long as we can learn from them, we can move on.
 
4 — Revisit Your Reasons “Why”
 
In order to make your grand comeback, oftentimes, you need to review the reasons why you wanted to achieve or attain something in the first place. What was it about that specific thing that was so alluring to you? Is that still the case? What were your original reasons for wanting to achieve it?
 
You need to revisit your reasons why. If your reasons for wanting something are strong enough, you can see just about anything through.
 
5 — Find Your Source of Happiness
 
Just because we fail at something, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t worthy of being happy. Everyone deserves to be happy. But when was the last time you actually did something you loved? I mean really loved? We’re often so busy chasing some dream that we forget about the fragility of life in the here and now.
 
Think about a child for a moment. When a child sees something for the first time, their eyes light up. They point up to the bird soaring up above or smile at the dog as it walks by. As we grow older, we forget about all of that. We forget about doing the things that used to bring us so much joy and happiness.
 
6 — Be Grateful for What You Have
 
Gratitude is quite possibly one of the most important aspects of life. We have to be grateful for what we have, no matter how little it might seem. Today you have to be grateful for what you have, even if all you think you have are problems.
 
Be grateful for what you have because tomorrow it could be gone. If you operate with that single principle in mind, you won’t feel so weighted down while trying to achieve your goals.
 
7 — Contribute to Others
 
An easy way to bounce back from failure is to simply shift your focus to others. Contribute something. Not your money. Your time. Time is far more valuable than money. Time can never be re-created or saved up. You only get to spend it once. But this is also a great way to recover from any failure.
 
When you contribute to others, you forget about your own personal needs, at least momentarily. It’s a great way to distract from our so-called problems in life. What can you do for others? Maybe just lend a helping hand to people that are in need.
 
Thoughts for the week

1. Which of these methods appeals to you most?
2. Which could you work on to improve your resilience?
3. This week pick one or two of these and implement them.
4. Next weekend reflect on what you have worked on and how it feels.

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.
 
Warm and healthy regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available HERE
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only