Failure & Resilience

To be human is to fail, encounter obstacles, and face setbacks.

To expect anything else of yourself is just a cruel exercise in demanding god-like perfection from a human being.

The only way to avoid setbacks is to do nothing.

The only way to never get injured is to never get out of bed.

The only way to never get rejected from a job interview is to never apply.

The only way to never get passed over for a promotion is to be unemployed.

It is not the avoidance of failure that differentiates the successful from the less so. It is their resilience in the face of adversity that makes the difference.

It’s what happens after you stumble, don’t get that job, or miss the promotion that determines the long-term arc of your career and life.

Everybody has a bad day, week, month, or year. But a career lasts 16,425 days, 2,340 weeks, 540 months, or 45 years.

It’s not the bad day that matters. It’s what you do the morning after the bad day that matters.

The first thing to realize about failure and adversity is that they are…

Normal.

We have a culture that encourages everyone to publicly celebrate their success and hide their failures.

This presents an incredibly skewed view of life.

If you look at Instagram, how many photos do you see of your friends doing cool, amazing things or looking good?

How many good hair days do you see in Instagram selfies? Seriously, how many bad hair days do people post?

If you get a new job promotion, LinkedIn shares that news with everyone in your network. And you see everyone else’s promotions in your feed.

When you or someone else gets laid off, it’s awfully quiet in that feed.

In the coming months, I’ll be writing a series of articles on overcoming adversity. I feel very passionate about this topic and how often it is misperceived in so many cultures and societies. I hope to share a radically different point of view on such an important topic. Keep an eye out for more posts on this.

In the meantime, if this topic interests you, I invite you to consider my new program on Dealing with Adversity (and the Emotional Struggles that Come with It).  Now available for a limited time, it provides support and guidance on how to deal with the adversity in your life. To learn more or order, Click Here.