The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Career Discussions and Professional Development/Skills. Most career tracks are not straight lines and do involve some adversity and setbacks. Reaching your goal will ultimately require perseverance. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Reasons Not to Be Disheartened by Your Personal and Professional Setbacks.
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Whether in our personal or our professional lives, setbacks and failures are an unwelcome but ever-present reality and inevitability.
While, of course, success can and should be pursued and achieved, it is seldom ever won without a significant dose of trouble and challenge along the way. But one of the things that most consistently separates high-achievers from the rest of us, is that high-achievers know not to be disheartened by their personal and professional setbacks.
Here are a few reasons not to be disheartened by yours.
Because failures and setbacks are an excellent opportunity for addressing a weak point and improving for the next round
First and foremost, failures and setbacks identify some kind of weak point or error in your plan, system, approach, attitude, or business model.
On the one hand, you could allow those setbacks to completely crush your confidence and convince you that the particular weak point in question is insurmountable – but how accurate is this sentiment actually likely to be? And more importantly, how does it help you to give up all hope?
A much better and more productive approach is, instead, to treat your failures and setbacks as excellent learning opportunities that show you the way to strengthen and improve yourself or your business, so that when it’s time for the “next round,” you will be in a much better position to meet and overcome your challenges.
If, for example, you ended up in a situation where clients of your business were indebted to you and were in no way holding up their end of the bargain and actually paying, that could be a great lesson to outsource some elements of your business going forward and to utilise the services of a collection agency.
The most capable businesses and people are generally that way because they have systematically identified and addressed many weak points along the way.
Because your destiny is largely shaped by how you respond to circumstances and occurrences
There are always going to be things in life that are out of your direct control, but that nonetheless significantly affect you or your circumstances or environment.
That’s true for everyone. But it doesn’t do any good to sit around feeling sorry for yourself and complaining about circumstances that you can’t do much about.
When all is said and done, your destiny is primarily going to be shaped by how you choose to respond to circumstances and occurrences. There are always more and less proactive and empowered ways of dealing with things. Your challenges, then, are an opportunity for you to show and develop your character.
Because all the best stories ultimately include an element of adversity
We are all the protagonists of our own stories, and life should be an exciting, fulfilling, and gripping tale for each and every one of us.
So, when was the last time you heard or read a great story that didn’t include any element of adversity whatsoever?
In all likelihood, it’s impossible to find a story that anyone cares about where nothing challenging ever happens, and where no failures or setbacks are encountered by the protagonist. As a human being, you need challenges in order to keep life interesting, and to keep you on your toes.
Of course, some challenges and setbacks are going to be absolutely tragic, and it might feel completely inappropriate to use the metaphor of a “plot device” to refer to them. The point remains, though, that you are the one with the ability to shape the course of your life – of your story – largely by how you respond to the challenges that confront you.
Instead of allowing your challenges to break you, meet them in as heroic a way as possible, and write a story that can uplift others.