Failure checklist - How to recover from a setback
First, welcome to the club. Checkbox 1: Was This Really My True North? Sometimes things fail. Why? Because you may not have cared enough. The fact is, highly capable people are often driven to success standards that are extrinsically measured — e.g. they provide external credentialization — but have little in common with what they truly wanted to accomplish. If you are working without meaning in a role, task, or job, your missing drive will make it harder for you to succeed. If you are conducting a post-mortem of a failure, ask yourself, Was I truly self-motivated to succeed, or was someone (or something) else driving me to succeed? If you were following your authentic "true north" — a goal, purpose, or calling you know you were born to follow — it makes sense to evaluate how and why things went awry. Checkbox 2: Was My Own Standard Reasonable? Failure has much to do with internal expectations. If things don't go your way when you're launching a new strategy, or pitch