Workshop

Watch the cooresponding video on

the flash drive before you begin.

HOW TO OVERCOME
FAILURE
HEATHER CHOYE
Life Coach, Author, Speaker, Mentor
PRINCIPLE: HOW TO OVERCOME FAILURE
If you’re content with a simple life of redundancy and
boredom—then it’s possible to rarely fail. Though is this
what you want—safety at the expense of your dreams?
Or would you rather suck all the marrow out of life?

I think you know the answer. And in that case—you’re

going to have to fail (and often). It’s guaranteed.

The trick, then, is not to avoid failure—but to use it as

an opportunity. But how do you do this? How can you
overcome failure, and turn it on its head? Simple.

1. Accept that you failed. After you’ve mourned

the loss of that possibility, an infinite number of
new options will bloom in its place.
2. Have an experimenter’s mentality. Get curious
about why you failed. Figure out why.
3. Actively learn from your failure. What can you
change? How can you use this new information
to take advantage of future opportunities?
4. Apply this new knowledge to your daily life. Set
reminders. Actively make the change.

In short—when faced with failure, you must kill your

ego. The same way a muscle grows after you tear it
down, so too must you grow stronger after each failure.

Remember: Accept, Get Curious, Learn, Make a change.

APPLICATION TO LIFE
1. Failure. Describe your most recent failure. What
opportunity was lost because of that failure?
Example: My boss retired this year. I wanted to replace
him but one of my coworkers got the job instead; that
position is no longer available.

2. Acceptance. Write down three times:

I cannot change this failure, only learn from it.

a.

b.

c.

3. Get Curious. Why did you fail?

Example: I wasn’t prepared enough during the
interview. I thought I could just wing it…
APPLICATION TO LIFE
4. Learn. What’s the lesson here? What can you do
differently to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
Example: In the future, I need to over-prepare. Luck is
“preparation meets opportunity,” right? I can’t assume
just because I’m comfortable I’ll perform well…

5. Make a Change. What’s a challenge you’re currently

facing where you can apply this lesson? What are the
new possibilities?
Example: There is a new position opening up in the
department I want to transition into. New career. New
opportunity! But this time I will need to prepare as much
as possible so I can be a top contender…