3 Ways To Reframe Failure By Changing Your Perspective

I’m a huge fan of reframing failure. If you’ve ever seen me speak—whether it’s at a conference or an event for one of my clients—you’ll know I love to tell the story about how I failed miserably when I first started my business, and how that failure eventually led to success. But what does that mean? How can failure be good for your career? And why should we embrace it as something that happens naturally in our work lives? Read on for some ideas on how you can reframe failure in order to learn from it and move forward with more confidence than ever before.

3 Ways To Reframe Failure By Changing Your Perspective

Don’t be so hard on yourself.

The first step to reframing failure is to not be so hard on yourself. Don’t let the failure define you, and don’t let it define your future. You are a lot more than just the mistakes you make in life, so don’t let failures hold you back from success in other areas of life or prevent you from trying again.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that failure isn’t something we should avoid but rather embrace as an opportunity for growth and learning. It gives us an opportunity to take a closer look at ourselves and what we need to do differently in order to succeed next time around.

Find the opportunity to learn.

While it’s important to find the positive side of failure, it’s also important not to get stuck in a rut.

When you’re faced with failure, there are ways you can use that experience as an opportunity to learn and improve.

For example, if you fail at a task or project because of something you did wrong or didn’t know how to do, try looking back on what went wrong and figure out what changes need to be made so that it doesn’t happen again. If someone else caused your failure by putting in less effort than they should have put in (or no effort at all), take this as an opportunity for improvement—and don’t let them off the hook!

Ask what you can do to keep this from happening again.

This approach is a simple one: it involves asking yourself what you can do to keep this from happening again. Ask yourself what you can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again, or how you can prevent it from occurring in the future.

For example, if your boss’s criticism crushed your self-esteem and knocked your confidence, ask yourself how you can ensure that a similar experience does not happen again in the future. You might want to ask someone else for feedback on how they perceive your work performance in order to gauge whether or not there was any reason why this happened. If there isn’t anything wrong with your performance, then perhaps there is something else that could be done differently next time around (such as adding more evidence/stats/facts).

Embrace the power of “yet.”

When you’re not succeeding at something, it’s easy to believe that you never will. The word “yet” can help you see the bigger picture and keep pushing yourself toward your goal.

Let me explain: when we say “yet,” what we really mean is “not yet.” And by using this little single-syllable word, we are putting more distance between ourselves and our failure (and thus giving ourselves more time to succeed). It removes the pressure of having to do something right now, because there’s still room for change in the future. For example: Instead of thinking “I suck at drawing,” try thinking “I’m not an amazing artist right now—but maybe someday soon!” Or rather than saying “I don’t know how to play guitar,” try saying “My musical skills are limited at this moment in time—but who knows what I’ll be able to do later?” This shift in perspective gives us permission not only for failure but also for continued effort toward success!

Also important is that this shift allows us space from past failures so that they don’t dominate our thoughts today or tomorrow either—even if those failures occurred years ago and have been long forgotten by everyone else except ourselves! If a mistake was made 10 years ago but still haunts us every day as if it happened yesterday (or even last week), then being able to say “Yet” gives us an opportunity not just for change but also relief from constant reminders of failure

Be honest with the people in your life.

When you find yourself struggling, it’s important to be honest with the people in your life. This is especially true if you’re working on a project or goal that is important to you. You may not want others to know that you’re having trouble because it makes you feel vulnerable and judged, but it’s better for everyone involved if they do know about what’s going on behind the scenes.

Be honest with yourself: When things start falling apart, take some time for self-reflection and ask yourself what went wrong so that next time around, things will go better. Ask questions like “Is there anything I could have done differently?” or “What did I not see coming?” Afterward, remember those answers so they can help guide future decision making moving forward.
Be honest with others: If there was something specific within your organization (or whatever group effort) that contributed to failure or disappointment—whether it was an individual action or organizational structure—don’t be afraid to convey this information directly and openly with those involved so everyone understands where improvements need made going forward

Take a walk or do something that changes your physical space and perspective.

If you’re feeling stuck, take a break from the situation. Change up where you are physically and what you’re doing. You may find yourself surprised by how different it feels when you return to whatever had caused your frustration in the first place. Maybe it will be easier to see things from a new angle or think about them differently; maybe not—but give yourself some time and space before coming back with fresh eyes to look at things from another perspective!

You can motivate yourself without being mean to yourself.

One of the ways we can reframe failure is by not beating ourselves up over it. It’s natural to feel discouraged and frustrated when things don’t go our way, but there are other ways of dealing with these emotions that don’t involve being mean to yourself.

For example, you can be honest with yourself without being harsh or critical. You can learn from your mistakes and move on without feeling like a failure for making them in the first place. You can find the opportunity in every situation—even if it seems like everything went wrong at first glance—and use that as motivation for doing better next time! Maybe this will help keep this from happening again! Or maybe not; maybe learning how to embrace uncertainty or deal with rejection will be more beneficial than avoiding it altogether? Either way, try changing your mindset about failure so that it doesn’t get in your way anymore: Instead of dwelling on what doesn’t work out as planned, focus more on those times when things actually did go according to plan (or even better). Then consider how much better those efforts felt compared with how bad they might’ve felt otherwise had they gone differently…yet!

Conclusion

Failure is inevitable. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, your efforts will not always succeed. It’s how we react to failure that matters, and there are many ways to reframe it so that we can continue moving forward without giving up. The most important thing is to remember that failure should never make us feel bad about ourselves—it should simply be an opportunity for learning and growth!