“A failure is a success if you learn from it.” So said Malcolm Forbes, the son of the founder of the famous financial magazine of the same name. This quote illustrates well the subject we have chosen to address in the following article. How do you use failure as an opportunity to bounce back and make a difference? Clinique GO™ social workers answer this question!
We all experience failure
Whether professionally or personally, we all experience failure at some point in our lives. It could be a promotion we missed or a contract we lost (professional life). It can also be a break-up in love, for example (personal life). Yes, we all encounter failures. What makes some people different is the way they use such failures to change things in their lives.
Of course, this may involve stepping out of one’s comfort zone in order to make a fresh start following a failure. To do this, you need to know how to approach life and all its aspects differently.
How do you react when you experience a failure?
Our social workers advise you to do the following when you experience a failure: take the time and step back to analyze the situation and determine how you can create new opportunities that will be more forgiving. To do this, take the following steps:
- Accept the situation: First of all, you must accept the situation of failure that you have experienced and, above all, accept that you are the master of your destiny. It is important to avoid attributing the blame to a person or to an external element.
- Modulate your emotions: It is important to accept all the emotions that the failure makes you experience. At this point, we need to find a way to channel the negative emotions. One way to do this is to take up a hobby or activity that you enjoy and that makes you feel good. It is even better if you surround yourself with people you care about.
- Determine the causes: once emotions are better controlled, we are able to analyze the failure and determine the causes, without having emotions color or exaggerate our judgment of the situation.
- Adjust: Once the situation has been properly analyzed and the causes of the failure have been identified, it is easier to know how to modify our behavior. The objective of these changes is to avoid future failures, or to know how to act on this or that aggravating factor.
We must not fear failure, since it is a real obstacle to success and fulfillment. Moreover, let’s underline the fact that human beings by their nature are often afraid of change. However, it is by making changes in our actions, in our way of thinking or in the people around us, that we can create a new beginning for ourselves. It may seem scary to make such changes in our lives, but we must keep our focus on the better things that will come if we do.
Social Worker Support
A failure experienced by a person may represent or result from a complex social situation. It is normal to feel unprepared when faced with a failure. In this sense, it is appropriate to seek the support of an outside person and a professional, in this case a social worker.
The social worker can take an outside look at the client’s difficult situation and conduct a complete analysis of it. The social worker is then able to offer personalized advice and direct the client to the appropriate resources. It can therefore be very useful to consult a social worker when you encounter a failure, whatever it may be!
If you are encountering a difficult situation in your life, consider seeking the advice of a social worker. The Clinique GO™ team offers virtual social work consultation services.
Approuvé par Francis Desjardins
