What happens when your plans fail?

Notice I said ‘when’….because really…this happens to everyone.

I wanted to touch on this today, because I’m noticing you taking action and some things are working out and some things…aren’t.

There’s a skill to failing that I wanted to highlight that I’m hoping will be helpful.

So what does failing look like to you?

• Maybe you didn’t hit a target you wanted to achieve.

• Perhaps you weren’t successful in selling your new product or new service.

• Maybe you hired the wrong person.

Do you consider these failures? Maybe you use a different word for it.

But, what happens when we fail?

• Maybe you took a chance on something where the result was uncertain.

• You tried a new approach.

• Or you didn’t take enough action.

Failing or ‘not succeeding in the way we want’ is a part of life. Business and Leadership is not immune.

In fact, some of the most successful business owners and leaders fail all the time. They still experience situations where the results didn’t meet an outcome they were looking for.

How do you deal with failure?

The reason I wanted to bring this up today is because while this can range from feeling soul-crushing to mildly annoying, how you deal with it will shape your future ability to deal with other setbacks.

This is what creates resilience.

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.

After you feel your feelings around any kind of disappointment (I’m not being tongue-in-cheek here, I’m a big believer in feeling the disappointment, anger, frustration, sadness, etc. of not accomplishing what you set out to accomplish rather than shoving feelings down never to see the light of day again. Feel without living permanently there.).

Then when you’re ready, move into observation mode - back track over the steps leading up and in the execution of your actions.

What worked? Where was the strength in your plan and execution?

When did it start to fall apart?

In hindsight, could you see the signs even before it become official? What led to the situation going sideways?

What was your role in it? What role did others play (not in a blame sort of way, but to see what elements contributed).

What would you do differently next time?

This is how we mine for the gold. This is how we create our neural pathways to dissect, learn and create the mental fortitude to build another roadmap for the next situation.

This is a way we can build our own inner reliance. Over time, if we practice this, we’ll get better at predicting what we need to be successful in our endeavours.

And, in the meantime, we’re increasing our mental fortitude to deal with disappointment.

So, keep going. Continue to try new things, experiment, use what you know now to make decisions and keep observing, learning and adjusting.

There will be times where it will feel uncomfortable. But you’re creating your inner resilience and creating a level of mental agility that will serve you well.

If you want support with this, let’s chat - hit reply or send me a DM.

This is part of the journey and can lead to new insights that you would never have predicted without things not working out right away!

NOW is YOUR time.

Ariana