You always pass failure on the way to success.
Mickey Rooney
Failure is inevitable if we are to succeed in life. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to overcome failure, and they are stopped by it when they encounter one. The ability to overcome failure is one big difference between successful and mediocre people. After all, we should pass failure on the way to success, so it is the ability to pass it that makes the difference between those who eventually reach success and those who don’t.
So, knowing that overcoming failure is essential, what should we do? Here are some tips to help you overcome failure:
1. Rise up and don’t regret; you have spent your time wisely
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
George Bernard Shaw
When we fail, we might be tempted to think that we have wasted our time and thus regret it. But that’s should not be the case. The fact that you have done something is much better than doing nothing. Many people who despise persons who fail never do anything themselves. Rise up and move on. The regret lies not in doing, but in not doing.
2. Understand that failure is there to bring you wisdom
Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure.
William Saroyan
Failure is there not without a reason. It’s there to give you the wisdom you need to succeed. Each failure you encounter increases your wisdom and brings you one step closer to success. If you have this mindset, you will see failure differently. You will see each failure as an opportunity to learn.
3. Learn as much as possible from the failure
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Albert Einstein
While failure brings you wisdom, how much wisdom you will get depends entirely on your ability to harvest it. So don’t waste the opportunity to learn; harvest wisdom as much as possible from the failure. If you fail to do this, you may waste a lot of time by repeating the same mistakes in the future.
4. Don’t give up; maybe you are only one step away from success
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas A. Edison
The thought of giving up is tempting, especially when we have failed over and over again. But who knows that maybe you are only one step away from success? Will you waste the long journey you have passed when you are already so close to your destination?
So hold on tight and don’t give up. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times to perfect the light bulb. He knew what it means not to give up.
5. Maintain your enthusiasm
Not only you should keep on trying, you should also do it with the same level of enthusiasm as when you first began. Otherwise your subsequent effort will have less and less power.
So how do you maintain enthusiasm? One good way is by realizing that you are now one step closer to success thanks to the lessons you learn. There’s no reason not to be enthusiastic when you are getting closer to success. Another way is to keep your mind on the destination, which brings us to the next point.
6. Keep dreaming big dreams
Always have your destination in mind; keep dreaming your big dreams. Spend time to visualize them and let the dreams energize you. Let them make you passionate and enthusiastic. Once you cease dreaming, soon you will also lose your energy and be back to mediocrity. To overcome all the obstacles you encounter you always need a greater why, and that why is provided by your dreams.
7. Keep your confidence in yourself
Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.
Belva Davis
Keep your confidence in yourself despite the failure. Of course, you need to put a lot of effort and learn as much as possible from the failure, but you have the ability to make your dream come true. Many people who achieve great undertakings have no special trait. They are just ordinary people with extraordinary attitude. Let’s be one of them.
Update:
This post is my submission to the group writing project at Litemind.
Photo by Behrooz Nobakht
Categories: Attitude
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Fear of failure can really be a roadblock on the way to achieving our dreams. I think we often avoid situations where failure is a possibility because we don’t have any plans for dealing with failure. If we can prepare ahead of time using the tips you provide here, it will seem less frightening and less devastating.
Why do you say failure is inevitable? Surely this cannot be true, failure is always a possibilty but never inevitable?
Doug
http://www.dougwoods.com
@Doug
I think it is more appropriate to say that failure is inevitable at some point. Failure isn’t inevitable in any given venture. If that were so, it wouldn’t make sense to take any risk. That being said, I don’t think there are any successful people that haven’t experienced some failure on the path to their dreams. Failure seems to be a prerequisite for success. It tests us to find out how committed we are to the dream, and teaches us lessons we will need to know along the way.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure | Life Optimizer [...]
Quint,
I agree, preparing for failure makes it less frightening. That’s a good way to connect ‘overcoming failure’ with ‘fear of failure’.
And your second comment gives us good description about the role of failure on the road to success.
Doug,
I agree with Quint’s comment on this. Failure is inevitable at some points. The statement ‘Failure is inevitable’ here actually comes from the quote ‘You always pass failure on the way to success.’ On the way to success, there are pitfalls at some points which we cannot avoid.
In regards to number 5:
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill
[...] http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2007/11/07/7-powerful-tips-to-overcome-failure/ [...]
“7 powerful tips to overcome failure” (???)
What do you call failure? isn’t failure what you call failure?
Maybe what you call failure is actually success of a kind you haven’t considered. If failure teaches you a lesson in perception, isn’t it success? If it teaches you tolerance for something you don’t like, isn’t it success? If so called failure teaches you to be whole and real, isn’t what you call failure, in reality, success? The defense rests.—Doug Rosbury
Hi Donald, once again, another great post on handling failures.
I really like tips 1, 2, and 3; look at it this way, we only live once. Either we go out there, try, fail and learn and MAYBE we will succeed one day OR we continue to live our life in mediocrity CONFIRMED!
So which way is it?
Keep in touch, Donald. :)
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure – Donald Latumahina [...]
@Doug
I would agree that failure is mostly perception. It takes time and reflection to look back at a “failed” situation and see what you might have gained.
I think these tips are meant to help us deal with the powerful emotions created when we put our whole heart into the pursuit of a goal, and we don’t reach it. We experience disappointment, reduced self esteem, loss of hope, and maybe even a desire to quit. It would probably be considered abnormal to not experience these kinds of feelings. Using the tools Donald talks about here can help us make it through the darkness and find those lessons on the other side.
The defense may continue to rest, because there is no prosecution ;)
Great insightful post.
Only thing I would add is when you ‘fail’ the first time don’t see it as failure. If you ‘fail’ at the same thing time and time again, that may be classed as failure because you are not learning and changing your approach.
Andrew
dorksgetlaid2,
Thanks for the quote!
Doug,
These are nice questions which make us think. I agree with Quint, it’s a matter of perception and this post deals with the negative feeling that may occur.
Lawrence,
I agree with the way you describe it. That’s exactly the mindset we should have in dealing with failure.
Either we take the risk to achieve something great or forever live in mediocrity.
I prefer the former and I’m sure you too :)
Quint,
I love the way you explain it :)
Andrew,
We can see the term ‘failure’ in different ways. The term ‘failure’ in this post also includes the first unsuccessful attempts.
I agree with you that the first ‘failure’ is normal. The important thing is to learn from it so that it won’t happen again.
When you depend on success because it brings you income you need, failure will be disappointing. But if income isn’t at stake then it shouldn’t be so bad. But watch out for ego trips
your sense of self importance will often be tied into both success and failure and make either one all too important.
What is it that makes one a tragedy and the other, a self
aggrandizing celebration of self importance? Egotism.
Humility will even things out. Failure contains all the
information you need in order to succeed. Don’t recognize
the power of failure to put you down. “If at first, you don’t succeed, try try again”— Doug Rosbury
[...] at LifeOptimizer takes a serious look at failure and how to keep it from derailing your [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure at Life Optimizer [...]
[...] Since failure is a certainty on the path to success, knowing how to handle it is critical. By knowing how to handle failure you will be able to keep your persistence. On the other hand, not being able to handle it will soon drain your mental energy. So arm yourself with the right tactics to overcome failure. [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
I choose to see lessons rather than failure. Wayne Dyer has a saying that I really like. I don’t know who he got it from. It says, “Nothing in my world ever goes wrong.” What can I learn from life’s ups and downs? How can I use that to grow spiritually? Great post.
Keeping confidence in yourself may be a tough thing to do, especially when you manage to go through a big chain of mistakes. It is so easy to get depressed, and so difficult to get over it!
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 powerful tips to overcome failure by donald latumahina [...]
Patricia,
That’s a good way to see failure. Hopefully more and more people will see it that way.
Simonne,
That’s true. I think learning other people’s stories could help here. If we learn how other people fail and rise again, it will be easier for us to keep our confidence.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure [...]
Your article is one of my favorites and my personal choice for the Litemind’s Writing Contest. I wish you luck. Please keep posting outstanding stuff.
stumbled it.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] recently I joined a group writing project at Litemind (with my post 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure), and here are my picks from the [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] Social Media Optimization by Etienne Teo 8 Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople by Daniel Sitter 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina 10 Ways To Work Through Your Workout by Gal Josefsberg ten things i didn’t [...]
Fier,
Thanks a lot for the vote! I appreciate it.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
It is so hard to cope with failure. These are points we should all remember.
I’ve just read your tips. I see them concise and useful. Well done. I chose them for Litemind lists project.
Neena,
I agree, it’s hard to cope with failure. It’s an important lesson we all should learn.
Xoel,
Thanks! Much appreciated.
I love these tips! They are so uplifting and so true. I especially like the first tip – there’s always something to be learned from our experiences. Perhaps even more so with failure.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina – I have been a fan of Donald’s blog for some time now. His blog on personal development has always been great inspirations for my own writings, and this article on handling failure is no exception. [...]
Hi Donald,
You post just got one of my votes for the GWP over at Litemind too. Those points resonate with my own experience in failure and are spot on!
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
Holli Jo and Monika,
Thanks a lot for your support! I appreciate it.
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina – You certainly have experienced failure several times in your life, since this happens to all of us. Do you agree with the methods listed in this post? Would they work for you? Is there anything you’d like to add to the list? This is an excellent topic to write about, and it can be related to most niches. If humour is your thing, those tips are something you may want to twist and mock. [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure by Donald Latumahina [...]
[...] reader or in your e-mail inbox. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon! There are a lot of failures on the path to success and I have certainly made my share of mistakes along the way. Of course, if you aren’t [...]
[...] 7 Powerful Tips to Overcome Failure @ Life Optimizer [...]
i am happy to know all the tips cause now a days i am really broken for my result in exam which is unexpected….bt u must add more examples…..
The comment by Farah Shabnam is totally unreadable. This
kind of comment, being meaningless to the reader, is useless in
conveying the writers message. I urge the writer to study the english language and at least, have someone write it for him.——
——Doug Rosbury