Have you ever failed at something in your life to a point where you feel like you are not capable of anything anymore? Well, you are in good company. I know the feeling and I have been there so many times. It was at university where I experienced my first failure. It was really difficult for me to take in this moment that I was faced with and the results I was seeing. I have always been a very positive person in my life but that moment took me out. I was shattered and I really did not know what to do. I went silent for a whole week not talking to anyone and locked up in my own room. I needed time with myself and my thoughts. It was in that room alone where I started thinking about ways to overcome failure and ultimately set myself up to try again. Below are tips on how to navigate failure in your life and ultimately win: Talk to yourself What I mean is that have a conversation with yourself and replay how everything turned out. Look at what went wrong and write down how you can do it again but better this time around. It is in the midst of trouble that creative solutions come about. Affirm yourself. Tell yourself that ‘yes, I have failed but did it take away my name and surname?’ No, which means you are still the same person who is fully capable of doing anything you want to do. Write down the things you can do without putting a lot of effort This might be things like your gifts and talents. Things that are embedded in you and you were born with. It can be writing, speaking, singing and running. All those things can be a good reminder that you are not as worthless as you think. It is just a phase and it will pass. Reflect on the good times and your achievements This is what makes life more meaningful, seeing that you are actually not stuck but you have done something so far in your life and that means you can still do it again and again. This will definitely help you to come out of the pit of failure to believing more in yourself. Change your attitude You have to deal with your thinking as a person. Your thinking will always affect your behaviour or attitude towards anything in life. Look at failure as an opportunity to try again. Author Myles Munroe says ‘failure is not a termination of your gifts or talents’. Changing your thinking will help you overcome failure. Have a positive outlook of life Always believe that all things will work out, sometimes it means not working out in our own time or way. All you must do is believe that it will all work out at the end of the day and never stop doing the work. Doing work makes a difference. Most of the time as believers, we think that we will never experience failure and we are exempted from it because we are the children of God and we are saved. Unfortunately failure is part of building a better version of yourself. We are most likely to experience it, not once but many times. James writes in his book saying ‘when troubles (Failure) come that is when your faith is tested and in the testing of your faith your endurance is developed’ (James 1:2-4). So we can draw lessons from what James wrote and apply it to our lives when we go through failure. Remember failure is part of the process of your development as a person. Ratiba Mohale is a thought leader, creative thinker, speaker and philanthropist.
