The 3 Best Ways to Succeed from Failure

Posted by: Tatiana Beale

Fri, 07/06/2012 - 08:00

Tatiana is a one-woman wonder with a broad skillset at her disposal. From driving Achievers’ culture initiatives to masterminding executive logistics, this Bay Area native does it all. Drawing inspiration from leadership and what makes corporate culture great, Tatiana puts her knowledge to the test by composing her culture-based blog posts. In addition to living all things culture, she gets her creative flare and passion for writing from her personal blog. Outside of work, Tatiana moonlights as a foodie, restaurant critic, event planner, and serial shopper.

Employee Success

Culture Management

fail·ure

[feyl-yer] noun

“an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful”

Failure is a gift. It’s actually a vital part of being successful.

We fail a lot, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking risks. Failure is part of the journey towards success. The key takeaway when it comes to mistakes is learning how to extract success from failure. Make mistakes often and learn from them.

In the recent Inc.com article, Make Personal Failure Worthwhile: 3 Ways, Kevin Daum emphasizes the importance of failure with accountability. Daum notes that failure and weakness is painful, but he gains insight and confidence from identifying his faults and “wearing his wound proudly like a new merit badge on a Boy Scout sash.”

It’s important to make the most out of your weaknesses and failures, so that you can achieve true engagement and feel successful. Here are the three best ways to succeed from failure:

Be accountable: Push your fallen ego to the side, and admit what went wrong. By assuming responsibility, others around you will relax and give feedback to quickly rectify any damage caused.
Create process around mistakes: Failure will happen more than once in your life, so be ready for it to happen. When it does happen, create a list of questions and analyze how the event occurred, and create a plan to change that certain behavior.
Brag about it: Shortly after making an error, share your story with your close colleagues. Others will respect your ability to be humble and admit you are human; and they will appreciate being able to learn from your mistake. At the end of the day, your sense of humor and ability to laugh off your mistakes will set you up for success next time.

While it’s important to learn from your mistakes, it’s equally (if not more) important to celebrate success when praise is due. Inspire others around you with your ability to succeed and your ability to be humbled by your mistakes.

Why do you think it’s important to learn from your mistakes? We would love to hear your stories of learning from failure and celebrating success!