Have you ever made mistakes at work? For instance, missed a deadline or accidentally entered incorrect data in a report and then spent the whole night tossing and turning, worrying that you might get fired? You’re not alone. Every professional has accumulated numerous such failures over the years of their career. Similarly, in business, the road to success is never smooth, and failures are inevitable because any changes or scaling are always associated with risk, and you must be mentally prepared for this.

We often take success for granted and dwell on failures. When a person receives something valuable, they rejoice, but as soon as they lose it, the effect of the loss is tripled. Failure disrupts plans and triggers expectations of adverse reactions. This stems from childhood. Often, parents praise their children for A’s, scold them for C’s, and overlook B’s. The child learns that a low grade is terrible because it results in punishment or deprivation, fostering a drive for perfection and a fear of mistakes. As they grow up, people continue to perceive failures as something terrible. This fear, known as atychiphobia, can be paralyzing, leading to avoidance and trapping individuals in a vicious cycle of inaction.

Fear of mistakes can manifest as perfectionism and procrastination. Perfectionists strive for the ideal and fear even the slightest imperfections, which breeds procrastination. Such people delay tasks and fear failing to reach the ideal. They come and talk about their achievements but immediately devalue them. Another consequence is the desire to please everyone, which requires significant resources and leads to overwork, burnout, and the inability to set boundaries. These people strive to be perfect for everyone, which is exhausting.

Learning from Mistakes

We tend to exaggerate the scale of failures and label even minor mistakes as failures. However, they are not worth much attention objectively, and their correction is better for us. What matters is not how we perceive failure but how we learn from it. Every mistake is a potential lesson, a stepping stone to growth and improvement.

People who cannot overcome life’s obstacles start looking for excuses. Our psychological defense mechanisms always offer ways to calm down, but the situation does not change. One such mechanism is rationalization— we always find an explanation for why we failed. This can be due to circumstances, external factors, or other people. This reluctance and fear of overcoming difficulties lead to envy and negative emotions. We begin to devalue others’ successes, pointing out their more favorable conditions or support.

To benefit, we need to work on our mistakes and analyze the reasons for failures to improve our next steps. With experience comes the understanding that failure is often a planning error, inattentiveness, irresponsibility, inability to work in a team, inability to delegate, and poor communication skills.

The myth that managers always expect perfection is not valid. Perfect employees can quickly burn out and not propose bold ideas due to fear of criticism. Prioritizing the most critical tasks and remembering that your boss can also make mistakes is essential. Discussing errors helps identify patterns and improve work.

Setting Priorities and Finding Motivation

If you are a specialist, prioritize. Trying to be the best at everything leads to burnout. By focusing on crucial tasks and forgiving yourself for minor slips, you can regain control and reduce the overwhelming feeling of needing to excel in every aspect of your work. This will help you seek approval at work and build professional self-esteem.

Seek internal motivation. From childhood, we were taught to live in a system of external motivators. Learn to set your goals and find what truly drives you at work. This will help you build a solid foundation to rely on throughout your life. Do not ignore your emotions. If you feel guilt or fear, work on them. Develop mindfulness and emotional intelligence to understand your feelings and thoughts. This will help you become a psychologically resilient person.

Building Self-Esteem

Failures can have a positive impact on a person. They happen to everyone, regardless of gender, age, or social status. However, each mistake reduces self-esteem. A failed interview can create fear of the next one, creating a cycle: failure lowers self-esteem, leading to reduced confidence and ambitions, causing the person to aim lower, resulting in even worse outcomes.

It is helpful to perform an exercise to boost self-esteem and confidence: make a list of 50 unfinished tasks that you did not complete for various reasons. Choose one of these tasks and complete it. This will release vital energy and give your brain positive feedback that you succeeded. Gradually, completing one task after another, you will feel a surge of strength and confidence. Building self-esteem is a challenging path, but it is essential.

We live in challenging times, but difficult periods existed 50 years ago, 300 years ago, and a thousand years ago. People have always faced difficulties, but some could transform their environment while others could not. The desire to succeed is the willingness to take responsibility and refrain from complaining about circumstances and lack of strength. Focus on your resources, inspiration, and desire to be the author of your life at least 80% of the time. The remaining 20% should be accepted philosophically, understanding that not everything will always be perfect. Appreciate what you have, and keep what is essential and valuable in endless comparisons with others.

This article was written by Anna Karlova, who loves learning throughout her life and has a strong passion for Data Analytics.