Several of my clients complain about failures in their career and they feel like they’re the only ones experiencing them. They blame themselves for not being able to have a successful business, they feel guilty for letting that happen, they think they’re not cut for that job which is their biggest passion, and as consequence, their personal life (including well-being and relationships) suffer. What’s even more frustrating is that they can’t seem to have a solution to their problems.

This is one of the reasons why they turn to me in order to regain confidence in their life, in their business, and be successful. Do you know what I tell them before we start working together? “This is a great thing! You need to experience failure at some point or you will never reach the top. I’m glad you are in this situation, I’m glad you touched the bottom and saw the end of your dreams. Because only then you can recognize the challenge, identify the issue, react to it by analyzing what’s missing or what went wrong, turn the situation around and get what you want. It happened to me too, many times, and it still does!” I’m glad that they contacted me because I can guide them in the right direction after they experience failure. The most surprising experience by working with me is that they neglected themselves so much that their business was negatively impacted.

We can always learn from our mistakes, and failure is inevitable if you want to improve. I use a three-step approach:

1. Detach – When something happens we tend to be very emotional (well, we’re humans) and this can distort reality. Try to look at what happened as a spectator, without judgment, as you were watching a movie.
2. Analyze – Recollect what went wrong, when, and how. Who were you with? What were you doing? Why did you make that decision? Was it influenced by others? Did you really believe in that move? Was there anything else you could have done instead?
3. Improve – Now that you have all the details of that experience, learn from it and use a positive mindset to create an action plan that can fix and improve the situation. If it will take time to fix it, set short-term and long-term goals. Most importantly, have a clear purpose and intention to make things better in the future.

We’re all human beings and we all make mistakes. Even the big names who reached the top and they’re the ones who inspire you, they made mistakes, they tried and tried until they made it. You can do it too. It just takes time, passion and determination but, if you believe, things will happen exactly like you wanted them. So go ahead, accept your failures and learn from them. Success will knock at your door sooner than you think.

A few years ago I was interviewed for a podcast called A Life Well Designed and the wonderful host, Jonathan Pritchard, asked me about my failures. I told him that I believe failures are necessary to succeed. They show you the path that you need to take, they give you the ability to test things that might not work so you can move in a different direction and ultimately reach your goals. It’s the failures that let you succeed.

Here are some ways to use failure to your advantage.

Hire me 🙂

Well, duh! I would LOVE to work with you. My holistic approach will help you identify different areas in your life that might be out of balance. Could it be a poor diet that brings your energy down? Could it be a lack of sleep that slows down your cognitive performance, or maybe lack of exercise that prevents you from lowering your stress levels? And what about self-care, do you think it’s not necessary? Think again. We, as human beings, need to give our body and brain the necessary rest to perform better.

If you’re not ready to work with me yet, that’s okay. Let’s take a look at other ways to learn and thrive from failure.

Take care of yourself

It is imperative that you take care of yourself before everything else. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning because you need to work on the last few pages of that proposal then you want to hit the gym before work and then you have to bring the kids to school and then you need to meet with that client…… Wow, slow down! Let’s start from waking up after 6-8 hours of quality sleep, giving your body the time to get ready for a long day, then nourish it with nutrient-dense foods, then start your busy day. Every hour or so, remember to take a break to reset your brain and your body. Have a nutritious lunch to keep your energy up, and fit some physical activity throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be one hour at the gym, you can just do a power walk around your house or office building for 30 minutes. The most important thing is that you move. Staying seated 8 hours and doing 1 hour of cardio doesn’t make you healthier, you will still be at risk for cardiovascular disease.

When you take care of yourself on different areas (nutrition, sleep, movement, self-care, stress management), you will find more time for things that you love. You will have more time for yourself and for family and friends. You will be able to fit everything in your day without running like crazy and feeling frustrated. No need to sleep 3 hours because you weren’t able to finish your tasks. Your body needs rest. When you rest you have more energy, focus, and you become more productive. You do things in less time. We all have 24 hours in a day, it’s just a matter of how to organize them. If you optimize your body and brain you will be able to accomplish your goals without feeling drained.

This lifestyle will help you feel less fatigued, frustrated, and leave negative thoughts out of the door. Even if you experience failure at some point, you will be able to react to it in a completely different (positively) way.

Stay away from social media

The goal of social media is to inspire you, to connect you with other like-minded professionals, to be found and get new clients, and continue the conversation with amazing people. If all you get is depression and frustration when you “socialize” on social media, then it’s not going to work for you, at least now. You are not ready to be inspired, you need to work on your challenges and to know what is wrong first. Let’s talk about it, contact me and I will show you how social media should give you the inspiration and the drive to succeed.

Meet with your peers

Do you know what the problem is? We live in an era where we all celebrate and brag about our wins, our success. On social media you always see these big posts showing what your friends and colleagues accomplished today, and we get affected in a negative way. We think, “Why or how did this person reach the top before me? How did this person reach the top without failing? Am I the only loser here?” No, you’re not! We all do this, but the failures and what we learn from them are not usually documented. Failure is an amazing way to collect feedback and we can use it to our advantage. You will know better about your strengths and weaknesses, you can analyze what didn’t work and use that information to change some little things. That will make you stronger and it will make you appreciate your success even more when it arrives.

Get together for coffee, lunch, take a walk together, go to the movies together, engage with them in person (NOT via e-mail) and just open up, express your feelings, ask questions, talk about what you’re doing and find out what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Most of all share your failures with each other. It’s such a relief to hear that your peers have the same exact problems you have, they have the same challenges you have, and maybe they have a solution that you haven’t found yet. Get support from them and support them in return because maybe they need help from you in different areas

Start a journal

Yes, you heard it right! Write down what didn’t work, what you learned from it, and how you were able to take advantage of it and make it a win. Do it at the end of every day so you can measure your failures and your wins every week. The more you are in control of your failures and you can measure them, the more you want to succeed.
Don’t know how? I have a gift for you!

Download my SUCCESS JOURNAL today for FREE by filling out the form below!

(Free for personal use – © Sabrina Cadini)

All I’m asking in return is to ~~~ LEAVE A COMMENT ~~~ on this post at the end of this week or the next one saying if and how this spreadsheet has helped you. I would love to hear about your failures and about your wins!

~~~ TAKE ACTION ~~~ Stop complaining saying that you’re not the right fit for your passion, that you’re not able to make it! It might just a little more time than you expected and that’s totally fine. Remember, there’s no overnight success but once you succeed nobody will take it away from you!

If you need help identifying your challenges and fixing your problems, let’s schedule a FREE Clarity Call today!

Sabrina Cadini

Holistic Precision Life Coach, Brain Wellness Coach, and Life-Work Balance Strategist helping busy professionals and high achievers live and work better by prioritizing themselves. I use different modalities (epigenetics, neuroscience, chronobiology, and positive psychology) to implement effective lifestyle changes.

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