Celebrate your failures. Often we are so wrapped up in our successes that we overlook how vital failure is. Your failures do not define you, but rather help you grow and learn. Even if you are taking two steps forward and one step back, you are still progressing.

Failure is Still Progress

1. Mourn your failures 

Being upset that something didn’t work out the way you were hoping it would, is human. Your emotions are valid, and you need to allow yourself to feel them. Coming to terms with how you’re feeling can lead to developing healthy coping mechanisms in the face of failure and help you move forward in a positive way. 

2. Learn to accept responsibility

There are two extremes that people can fall into when it comes to placing blame. They either blame everyone else or unfairly blame themselves. Take some time to reflect on what went wrong. What was directly your doing, and what was out of your control? In all scenarios, you will find that there are things that you will personally need to improve upon or fix in order to move forward, but not all of it is your fault. Find that balance. 

3. When one door closes another opens

There is no one path to any destination. Perhaps the route that you have chosen is not right for you, and you are meant to be somewhere else. Opportunities are constantly presenting themselves, you just need to look for them.

4. Use this as a learning opportunity 

What could you have done better? Was there something that happened that made you realize that perhaps this wasn’t the best decision for you in the first place? No one ever does anything perfectly the first time around. There will be more opportunities and if you learn from your mistakes you may have a different outcome. 

5. Avoidance is not the answer 

Fear of failure can lead to stasis. Knowing that failure is inevitable but also solvable is the best way to stop yourself from becoming stuck. Remember that hard work is the key to achieving your goals. One important aspect of hard work is failing, then getting up, brushing yourself off and learning from your mistakes. 

Take some time to reflect. What is an important lesson that you would never have learned if you hadn’t failed at something?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

– Winston Churchill