The Trip You Do Not Want to Take
"If things go
wrong don't go with them."
- Roger Babson
(1875-1967)
American Businessman
What do you
do when things go wrong? Do you get
angry, want to quit or bang your head on the desk? No one likes to fail or have to start
over. However, success-minded people
know that there are times when all the hard work and effort goes down the drain
and you have to make a new start. There
is no reason to allow this to frustrate or discourage you. Here are four things you can do when things
seem to go wrong.
#1 Stop - Deep Breathe - Calm Down
The first thing is to not allow
your emotions to take over. As I said,
no one likes to fail. It is all too easy
to get angry and discouraged, however, that will never move you a head. Do not waste time being mad. I am not saying that you deny the fact that
you are disappointed or pretend that it did not happen, just don't give it
control.
When things go wrong, stop for a
moment, take a deep breath (I mean literally do this), and calm down. By doing this you will be able to think this
through without all the anger and emotion that will cloud your thinking. You will find that just taking a short break
to calm down and pull back will help a great deal. A few deep breathes, standing straight and
feeling yourself getting control will give you the strength to think and get
back on track.
#2 What did you learn?
Now, sit down with a paper and
pen or at your computer and write out what you have learned. Every mistake, failure or set back has a
lesson attached to it. One of the
secrets to the success of Thomas A. Edison was that he always made notes of his
failures as to what did not work. One
reason was so he did not make the same mistake twice. However, he also made many unexpected
discoveries this way.
List all the lessons you have
learned in detail. Study them and think
about them. Do not judge them. Some of you may be tempted to think "I
should have known better", and maybe you should have, however that is not
the issue. Why did you not know
better? What was the chain of events
that lead to this? There are many
valuable lessons here.
#3 What is the best lesson or benefit?
Author, Napoleon Hill said,
"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed
on an equal or greater benefit."
There is always something great that can come out of a problem, mistake
or failure. Seek that benefit out and
build on it. Some of the greatest
discoveries in the world were at first thought to be mistakes. There are people who became millionaires due
to their mistakes.
Ask yourself, "What good
has come out of this?" Again, learn
from it and be able to use it for your gain, not your decline. Many people have transformed their greatest tragedies
into their greatest victories. If all
you do is get mad you will miss it, however, if you seek for the benefit you
will find it right there in plain sight.
#4 What to do now - same goal /
different course
Now you need to get moving
forward again as quickly as you can. If
what you have tried has failed, here are the steps to setting a new course:
A.
What did you learn that went wrong
B.
What do you need to change to make it right
C.
Do not change the goal
D.
Set a new action plan
E.
Start taking action within 24 hours
You do not need to change the
goal. The goal was never the problem,
only the course you were taking to get there.
If in the course of a flight a pilot going from New York to LA gets off
course he does not then decide he will go to Seattle. He adjusts the course and still gets to
LA. So it is with our goals. If we get off course we do not change the
goal, we just adjust the course and still achieve our dreams.
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