Success is never easy to accomplish, not when it’s done the right way, which means you are bound to come across a number of challenges that will first bring you down before they build you up.
We ask Doctor Sharon Munyaka, an industrial psychologist and researcher from Sharon Munyaka Incorporated, to share her thoughts with us on the matter.
TURN THINGS AROUND
Before giving in to the ‘process of letting go’, you need to prepare yourself mentally by turning your failure around and giving ion to the process of change. You cannot accept anything if you have not told yourself that you will change, with accepting your failures comes the power to acknowledge that it is necessary to change in order to achieve anything positive.
ACCEPT IT ALL
Once you have found a way to mentally recognise the fact that you need to change, you can start working on accepting your downfalls. What Munyaka says on accepting the failure you are experiencing: “You need to be objective about what happened. Being objective requires some self-reflection, ask yourself some hard questions you might be avoiding and more importantly, give yourself critical feedback.”
Generally it is a lot easier to accept the situation once you have gathered the extent of your failure. Know where you stand and slowly start dealing with the fact that it happened.
OVERCOMING YOUR FAILURE
Once you have accepted that you have failed, it will be easier to move on. This should be the opportunity for you to recognise that mistakes do happen. You cannot succeed and know the greatness of success unless you have failed at least once. However, this does not mean that you should make mistakes deliberately, it simply means that when you do, learn from the experience.
CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK
Munyaka advices that you deal with your failure by shifting your focus onto what is right with you and those around you rather than using failure as a starting point. Move away from defining yourself through those things that are not working in your life. “When you identify the things that are working well in your life, you can use the strategies you applied in those areas to help you in the areas that are less successful,” encourages Munyaka.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVITY
Doctor Munyaka insists you keep your chin up as things could be a whole lot worse. The setback you are experiencing now will not last forever.
“As the seasons change so does your life, nothing remains the same and the best part is that you have the opportunity to carve your life in the way that you want – your destiny, your choice.” She recommends you reflect on the wonderful things that are in your life and let that carry you through the bad times.
UP, UP AND AWAY
Before you plan to move on, make sure that you still want to head in the same direction or if you want to try something new. Sometimes failure happens because you do not want to achieve your goal as much as you thought you did and sometimes because you are just not ready and by fixing any faults you might have first, you would be more prepared to handle and keep your success. Remember that in order to succeed, you need to be willing to deal with whatever problems come your way.
