Failure is a moment of crisis. But sometimes such crisis moments trigger useful lessons for life. When failure strikes it leaves us down and defeated. Dealing with failure begins with being mentally prepared for it. However when we start an endeavour, we do so not planning to fail but to succeed. So how can we step out of a failure mentality after it strikes?

1. MENTAL READJUSTMENT:
I remember failing in my agribusiness venture after two years of moderate success. I had started tomato greenhouse and poultry farming only for the price of chicken feeds to go over the roof and for my greenhouse to be destroyed by wind almost at the same time. This was a very difficult time for me. It threw me into some depression and a feeling of helplessness. Sometimes managing failure alone might be a daunting task. During such times it’s wise to seek help from family, friends or professionals. When failure hits, it doesn’t give notice. Like grief, it shows up unannounced. It’s important to remember that just because we’ve failed doesn’t mean that we cannot succeed. I’d like to picture failure as a detour we’re not planning to get to. But in the event we find ourselves there, we have the option of turning back to find the route to success or keep on wallowing in self pity. It’s OK to lick your wounds after failure. But its not OK to stay there. There is life after failure. If you can gather sufficient mental strength to pick yourself up after failure then do so. If not, then seek professional counselling or help from a mentor. Seeking help is an important step in handling failure.

2. TAKING STOCK
After failure, it is important to take stock of our losses. I remember after my failure in agribusiness, I sat down and did an actual calculation to see exactly how much money I had lost in the venture. Many times after failing, we don’t take stock of the exact cost of our failure. After recovery from the mental damage failure unleashes upon us, we could be tempted just to dismiss the loss as just another lesson. However, we must be ready to convert the cost of business failure into actual monetary value. This will give us a good picture of our financial situation at the backdrop of our current assets and liabilities. This also applies to other areas of our lives. When we stumble and fall, we must take stock of the cost that goes with it.

3. ASSESSING THE CAUSES:
After taking stock, it is prudent to know the causes that led us to that fall. A few tools are important in this regard such as the cause and effect model. Assessing the causes of our failures requires us to be brutally honest with ourselves. In fact in some occasions especially if the business was a partnership or a ltd. company, there will be a need for a third party to carry out an audit. All failure results from causes some of which could be mitigated against. This step is key especially when deciding to venture again into the same line of business.

4. MOVING FORWARD
Lessons learnt from failure offer very practical application points going forward. In my business venture, I realized that a couple of factors contributed to my business failure. One of them was committing my capital to starting more than one business. Seek to learn from failure lessons and apply them in life going forward.

Lessons learnt from failure build resilience in us which is a very important life skill.