It’s only the first week, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup is already turning out to be a tournament of surprises. Among the top contenders, Germany has already suffered a setback in their opening match, while Brazil and Argentina too found themselves tied against opponents after lackluster performances.
Though the initial setbacks should not seriously hurt their prospects in the tournament, these top teams now need to regroup, rethink and capitalise on their strengths to wrest back the winning momentum. The hallmark of a great team, after all, is its ability to bounce back from failure and return to winning ways.
But this is true for all walks of life—including your career. The capacity to overcome a career setback and move ahead is one of the defining traits of a successful professional. If you’ve encountered a setback in your career, there’s no need to let it linger for long. Instead, use these tips to recover quickly and get back on the road to success:
1. Acknowledge the failure
The first step to overcoming failure is also the hardest. Since acknowledging your failure also means accepting that you probably weren’t good enough, the process of coming to terms with it can be a somewhat depressing experience. But it is an essential part of the process if you want to get ahead. After all, you can only improve when you recognise the need for improvement.
2. Don’t be too hard on yourself
Once you’ve done the difficult thing by accepting responsibility for the failure, don’t be consumed by guilt. Often, we tend to take our failures far too seriously to let it have a disproportionate impact on our lives. Understanding the truth that failure and success are two sides of the same coin can help us deal with it better.
3. Analyse
Bill Gates aptly said, “It is fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” A dispassionate and objective analysis of your failure is probably the most important step you can take to help your career get back on track. Asking yourself questions like what worked and what didn’t, what you could have done differently, and what you missed completely, could throw valuable insights into the problems and how they could be tackled better.
4. Prepare an action plan
Now that you have an objective view of what went wrong, prepare an action plan. Define your goals, determine how you want to get there and break up your plan into small, actionable parts. Include deadlines and make a note of the resources you need to meet the objectives. If possible, run the plan by somebody who has recovered from a similar experience and ask for feedback.
5. Take action
You are ready for action! Forge ahead towards your goal with vigour and enthusiasm, wiser and better-prepared than the previous endeavour. If, at any point of time, you feel that things are spinning out of control, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
There are many career lessons one can learn from football including the importance of teamwork, solidarity, sportsmanship spirit, and how to handle setbacks. The unpredictability of the game and the fact that anything can change in an instant are other valuable lessons the game can teach us. So enjoy the tournament as it progresses, and keep an eye out for lessons from some of the top teams and best athletes in the world!
