How do you cope with failure and disappointment?
"Failure is just another step on the road to success." Can you persist after disappointments and setbacks?
-Orly Katz
You studied very hard for a math test – but only got 56%. Would you feel sorry for yourself and give up studying, because whatever you do it doesn’t seem to make any difference?
You’ve got a crush on someone and plucked up courage to start talking to them, but they just ignored you. Would you feel that you were a failure and despise yourself and wait a whole year before trying to talk to anyone else you find attractive?
Your favorite singer is appearing at a concert near where you live. The tickets run out before you manage to buy one. What would you do? Would you spend the whole day crying about how unlucky you are?
A television channel is looking for teenagers for a drama series to be filmed near your home. You audition and dream of landing the role when you get the letter: “we’re sorry but the role has already been cast”. What would you do? Start crying and give up
You play soccer. You prepare to kick the ball and accidently score on your own team, allowing the rival team to win. Everyone keeps giving you dirty looks. What do* you do? Would you try to keep your head down and sit out the next few practices?
Failures don't phase you:
You’re doing fine! You know that failure is just a challenge on the way to success. You don’t give up and don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself. You believe that everything will work out in the end. Keep on going!
Messing up is hard for you, but you know how to move on:
On the one hand, you know that if you’ve messed up on one day, it doesn’t mean that things will keep on going wrong. You know that success can take the place of failure, so you’re not scared of trying again. On the other hand, you do sometimes get bogged down with self-pity and have a good cry about things. That’s fine, as long as you don’t take it to extremes. We’re all human and we all sometimes cry when we feel bad, and enjoy feeling sorry for ourselves from time to time.
You take failures to heart:
You can’t handle failure. You don’t like disappointments, and if things don’t go exactly the way you want them to and expect them to, you simply give up. You start crying, and get drown in your own self-pity. It’s no fun to be disappointed, and it’s no fun to fail at something or to hear the word “no” right in your face, but that’s life, and from time to time you have to know how to deal with it. I advise you to start right away: stop feeling sorry for yourself and don’t put yourself in the mood for failure. Remember, whatever happens… tomorrow is another day!