If you failed at something today, give yourself a pat on the back.  Go on.  We’ll wait.

Don’t give us that quizzical look!  “But failure is bad, right…?” you ask.  Our answer: absolutely not.

You see, failure can be an important step on the road to success.  Think of a baby who tries to stand, only to fall down again and again.  Every time he tries, he adjusts his stance and balance, until voila!—he’s standing.

Even great success stories were born in failure.  J.K. Rowling was living on welfare when she wrote the Harry Potter series, which was rejected by all 12 publishers that received the original manuscript.  Today, her estimated net worth is $1 billion.  Walt Disney filed for bankruptcy after his first animation studio went under.  Today, The Walt Disney Company generates more than $40 billion in annual revenue.  Even if you don’t end up rich and famous, the moral is, major failures can teach powerful, not-soon-forgotten lessons. 

But failure doesn’t have to be catastrophic to offer an opportunity for learning and growth.  Those little everyday failures are just as valuable as the catastrophes, if not more so, because the lessons learned from them are instrumental to preventing future failures—not merely responding to them.  And the best part?  It only takes a little time each day for you to evaluate your failures and to stop them from recurring.

During the last 15 minutes of your day, secure some peace and quiet, and try this exercise.  Ask yourself what you failed at today.  Be honest.  Write it down so you can remember and keep a record of your journey.  Next, determine what you learned from your failures.  From there, ask what behaviors you can implement to avoid the same failures in the future.  To add some positive reflection, repeat this process with the day’s successes.  By evaluating your responses over time, you may begin to see patterns, which can help you recognize and work with your strengths and weaknesses.

Use those strengths and weaknesses to develop an action plan to create more success stories.  Do you succeed when you ask questions?  Keep a detailed calendar?  Surround your monitor with sticky notes?  Apply those success tactics to the areas where you’ve been less than successful.  You can even appoint a friend or coworker to hold you accountable for your corrective actions.  Ask your accountability coach to regularly check in with you about your successes and failures, and to ask what you’re doing to foster success with your action plan.

With time, commitment, and patience, you’ll find yourself experiencing fewer failures.  And although failures will inevitably happen, you’ll be better equipped to recover from them!

At YES! Your Human Resources Solution, we work to create success stories for our clients.  Our friendly HR consultants are on hand to assist with any Human Resources–related matter, from recruitment and retention, to employee benefits and recognition programs, to HR leadership building.  Whatever your question, we have a solution!  When you’re ready to build success with a solid HR foundation, just say YES!  For more information, visit our website or schedule a free consultation to discuss how we can best complement your business needs.