NOT FAILURES, JUST BLOOPERS BY LEAH BALL

A large component of the entrepreneurial mindset is learning to “celebrate failures,” which I have always struggled with. How do you take a major disappointment and turn it into something you not only accept, but celebrate? For me, the first steps to learning this mindset have come from re-naming and re-framing my “failures.”

When you were a kid, what was your favorite part of owning the DVD of a movie? For me, it was accessing those special features and my personal favorite, the bloopers. We love watching our favorite actors mess up their lines in costume and make everyone on set laugh. So why not re-frame our failures as our own personal blooper reel? Instead of dwelling on the fail, play it back in your head and laugh at it. Find joy in your life bloopers.

Another way to look at failures that helps me to move past them is by viewing them as learning opportunities. When you fail, try to shift your perspective and take a moment to be grateful for the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. Truly reflect on what you could have done better and think about what you will do differently next time. When I do this, I realize that a lot of my failures, which may seem overwhelming in the moment, actually saved me from making a bigger mistake in the future. This has been the most freeing lesson of all, because I can choose to be grateful for failures rather than devastated.