Recovering From Failure
Introduction
Every year, or whenever I happen to end up at an airport, I grab a magazine from that cold, tiny gift shop that nobody actually knows the name of, but everybody ends up at around 2 AM. But, I don't just grab any magazine. Year after year, I have to see what the next topic of the Harvard Business Review will be. Spurred by my dad and his Business Master's degree, this tradition is one we enjoy as a family high in the sky because this magazine series is so much more than entrepreneurial advice; it's life advice.
Body
With this being said, I recently faced a roadblock in my mission toward higher education. It was a tiny yet mighty failure that I never thought I would meet, and it left me embarrassed, disappointed, and questioning my ability in this particular field. Even though all I really wanted to do was mope around in bed, I thought about how much better it would feel to overcome this incident and emerge more knowledgeable and skilled than before. This was the moment that I remembered my very first issue of the airport Harvard Business Review waiting patiently under the manila folders of my credenza, the issue on Recovering from Failure.
First, the writer asks that you "Recognize Your Type" by discerning which negative reactions you most often express in the face of failure, allowing you to learn how to manage it. Personally, I am the "Diligent" or "Micromanaging" type who is such a perfectionist that I tend to overthink an issue, then criticize myself for doing exactly that. Now knowing this, I keep my "type" in mind throughout the many articles I happily reread, learning to embrace new strategies of how I can better communicate with friends or other students, reflect on the situation, and search for a lesson.
My favorite passages, though, are lessons on how to be the kind of person that responds correctly to failure. I learned that, although there are many ways in which different people can respond positively, a "Growth Mindset" is always the main factor. Finding the strength to reflect upon oneself without complacency or defeatism, then deciding that one's abilities are malleable and deserve improvement is essential. These improvements are often led by the two primary supporters of a "Growth Mindset": optimism and self-compassion. Optimism teaches us that setbacks are never forever unless we let them be, and self-compassion instructs that we be kind to ourselves, much like a friend would.
Conclusion
Ultimately, I've realized that the key to recovering from failure is to embrace it but never be defined by it. Although experiencing defeat will always feel horrible, no matter how often I do it, I have been reminded that failure is a lesson to welcome. I must attack the issue at its core and make the difficult decision to work harder and perform better than ever before, even if it stings.
Resources