On Failing Gracefully and Falling Forward

A few years ago, I wrote about my success. More specifically, I wrote about what happens behind the success. You see, folks see when I “make it,” when I get to the next level, and when I have the opportunity to check another goal off of my “Things I Want to Achieve in Life” list.

You guys share in my success. You celebrate with me. You get excited with me. And I must say, all of this is pretty awesome.

But I also share my struggles, my setbacks, and my failings. Because you need to see what goes on behind the scenes. You need to see how many times it was a “no” before it was a “yes”. You need to see how many times I was thisclose to quitting before I had a major breakthrough. You need to see how long I stood still before I leveled up.

And that’s exactly what happened earlier this year. I was recently not chosen for a position/promotion that I feel, scratch that, know, I would do well. When I found out the not-so-good news, I was sad. Disappointed. And kinda stuck. I was in a “Well what am I gonna do now?” mode for quite some time.

I wallowed.

I sulked.

I even withdrew.

But… I didn’t stay there. In that space.

The way this life is set up, we’re expected to feel like failures when we fall down. But whatever happened to taking that failure and learning from it? Whatever happened to failing gracefully and falling… forward?

So that’s what I decided to do. I decided to get up, dust myself off, and strategize my next move. How, exactly, am I going to get from here to there? What do I need to learn? What do I need to unlearn? What do I need to master? What skills and tools do I need to work on in order to be an even stronger candidate the next time?

After a couple email exchanges and video conference calls with the hiring team (that I initiated), I feel like I have solid things to work on moving forward.

I could have easily continued to beat myself up over this failing. But I didn’t. Instead I decided to fail, gracefully. And fall, forward.

Now… the next time I write about this position, it will be to share the success with you. Beat your understanding on that.