Fail with Style

By Bruce Lund, NEXTPERT
Topic: Career Development, Marketing, Networking, Personal Branding, Success Strategies, Reputation Management, Social Media, Entrepreneur, Gen Y, Millennial, Job Searching

 www.nextpert.net 

The “Busy” Time of the Year

With the semester coming to a close there is a lot of pressure placed on us as students. Stress is a by-product of struggle. Little things add up to make us feel overwhelmed so I had to remind myself of the NEXTPERT concept. I hope this will help other students at any level learn to “Fail with Style”.

I uncharacteristically found myself struggling with my time and energy. This had nothing to do with time management but more with the feeling of stress and losing my POSITIVE energy. The main attribute of becoming a NEXTPERT (The Best of the Next Generation) is maintaining your energy and using adversity as a way of growth.

In order to gain back the confidence in myself I had to remember to feed myself some positive thoughts. We can choose to feed the dog within us negative energy or positive energy and whichever you feed more will win out. I had to refocus what I was feeding my mind. So I began to read books with positive thoughts like I normally do. The law of energy tells us energy cannot be created it can only be transferred. These temporary setbacks were a momentum killer that I was CHOOSING to allow to affect me.

Once I began to get back my positive energy it was time to re-evaluate my situation, the various projects, and figure out how to work smarter and not harder. I had to remind myself the top priorities and use this struggle as a way to accelerate growth.

“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”  

 Any significant breakthrough is a break with an old way of thinking into a new way. Progress is a natural motivator for us. 

The Five Step Plan to Fail with Style

That WHAT Stage:

1. What is this trying to teach me? Don’t ask “why me” but instead figure out what is this trying to teach me.
2. What was my contribution to this adversity? Figure out how you ended up in this situation. 90 percent of the struggles we face were our own doings. Spend less time “whining” and more time “winning”.

The GET Stage: 

3. Get Stable - avoid emotional decisions. This is the emotional intelligence. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you and make a decision or say something you will regret.
4. Get Help – Seek out the help of those that “Got Your Back”. We all need mentors in life. Go to the people that are your support group. The more the better.
5. Get Busy – Learn from it and move on. Check the past with the past and stay focused on the things you can correct to bounce-back and grow.

All worthwhile victories happen because of many hours of struggle. So continue to “Fail Forward” and use the cost of sale of getting a degree to your benefit. The process must be followed and the price must be paid.

Bruce Lund is the Founder & CEO of NEXTPERT, a training and consulting firm offering insight and strategies to help recruit, train, and retain the BEST of the NEXT Generation leaders. Bruce is a Next Generation Expert completing his Ph.D. on leadership. Bruce has worked in and through many top organizations and teaches the whole self (Mind, Body, Heart, Spirit) approach in leading. He is seeking to become THE Leadership Expert Generation Y can count on for guidance to take them from where they are right now and teach them the distinctive habits of successful people to live an extraordinary life.