At some point in your career you will face failure. It’s inevitable, but failure is an opportunity to begin again. It’s a process, not an event, which every, single person will encounter.
Patricia Fletcher, contributor to Inc. says her friend Jeanne Sullivan, a general partner at StarVest Partners, will not invest in a CEO who has not experienced failure.
Why?
“An investor needs to be able to trust your response to failure will make you and your business stronger,” she says.
Fletcher offers some tips on how to embrace and deal with failure.
Take a Breath
Fletcher says one of the best things you can do to regain your emotional intelligence is to take yourself out of the mix.
Take a breath to clear your head. You can take a walk, turn off your phone or email, or don’t sign into Facebook or Twitter. Life goes on, so enjoy the simple joys to lift your mood and get back on track.
Regain Power Over the Failure
No matter how confident you are, everyone is afraid of failure, but don’t let it hang over your head.
Fletcher suggests you simulate the experience. Write down what you feared the most, how you felt, and what you thought would happen if you failed. For each item on the list, create a plan and act on it.
Focus on Goals
Pain from failure is temporary and goals are not. Focus on what is ahead, the bigger picture, if you will. Be open to corrections, and run your business as usual.
Learn from Failures
Your successes define you, not your failures. Each failure is a learning experience you can take with you for the rest of your career.
Failure is common, but when we meet it, it feels like we’ve crashed into a brick wall. As leaders, we need to get back up and continue to move forward.
How do you deal with failure?
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