5 Tips to Stop Avoiding Failure
“Failure” is something you’re probably trying your best to avoid. What if avoiding failure made it worse?
You’ve already heard that failure is a part of life.
So why do you do everything you can to avoid it?
And feel so awful when you do fail? Embarrased, ashamed, dreadful.
Failure is all around us. It’s human nature to fail.
A relationship ending, not speaking up when you had the chance, missing your work deadline, a savings goal you didn’t meet, an important conversation that flops… or seemingly small things like taking 4 tries to parallel park your car, or missing a turn and being late.
As hard as you try, you still can’t avoid failure.
You’ll have to stop avoiding it. And learn to navigate it.
Then how do you navigate failure?
It’s comes down to your mindset around failure.
The way you’re thinking about it. The story you’re telling. The narrative you’re creating about what failure means about you. Or about other people.
Failure is defined as “lack of success” or “failure to meet an expectation.”
Note: If you haven’t failed recently, it may be helpful to look at how safe you’re playing things.
So how do you shift your mindset about failure?
Well, fortunately, I’ve become quite an expert on this. I used to HATE failure (recovering perfectionist here)!
But the Universe will throw you right into what you fear, so I’ve failed. Many times. I’ve become an expert from my life experience, my training with some of the wellness industry’s leaders, and working 1:1 with my clients specifically on mindset.
The biggest shift happens when you can see failure as a learning opportunity.
“What can I learn here?” probably isn’t the first thing you think of when you’re in the depths of failure and all the negative, low-vibe emotions that come with it. That’s ok. Because you’re not staying there. At least you’re not if you’re working with me as your Coach.
To get you started in the right direction today, here are 5 steps to help shift your mindset around failure:
Identify your negative thought patterns (through awareness practices)
Bring your focus to the positive aspects of yourself (not the same as bypassing, and serves to establish self-confidence and courage)
Look for the learning opportunity (ask: how can I do this better next time?)
Surround yourself with positive and supportive people (or at least one person you feel safe with)
Challenge yourself to try again
Please note there are many baby steps within these 5 steps, but like I said, you’re heading in the right direction with these.
If you want to go deeper and get personalized support on dealing with failure and shifting your mindset, check out my 1:1 coaching offers.