Failure isn't an option, but failure is inevitable.
Everyone goes through this experience, and it's probably one of the most humanizing experiences even successful people go through.
Although there is no known antidote for failure, there are still ways to get you out of that slump. When you're on the lookout for a boost of inspiration (and books aren't your thing), we have selected our top 4 TED talks with topics that will help you explore mistakes, see them in a fresh perspective, and heal from them:
In her TED Talk, Kathryn talks about how life is made up of moments of surprise, reversal, and being wrong. The bad news: We will make mistakes and fail at things. Good news: We can own up to our mistakes and find a way to deal with them. In the process, we can come up with new ideas and strategies that might be useful... or not.
We're rooting for you to get the better of the two.
We bet you have asked yourself these questions at least once in your lifetime:
"I don't have enough luck."
“I'm not obsessive enough, or I should be like Steve Jobs."
"When I talk to people, I'm a nice, normal person, but I don't have a lot of passion in my life. “Besides, I have kids, and I'm too busy to be great at anything."
These are just a few of the fear-based crutches we beat ourselves with. Canadian economist Larry Smith says that people use self-talk to stop them from pursuing the job they want to have. He says that people often let their fear of failure lead them to bad jobs. The irony.
If you've ever failed, Elizabeth Gilbert knows a thing or two about it. Publishers rejected her memoir Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin Books, 2007) for almost six years. When the book finally broke through, Oprah and the rest of the world couldn't get enough of it.
Although Gilbert made a lot of money and achieved success, a looming pressure to make it happen again was too much for her to handle. She thought about giving up while she was behind but she didn't.
Gilbert did write that second book, though not as popular as the first one.. She had failed but didn't give up.
When she thinks back to her experience as a struggling, unpublished writer, she feels strong because she can still relate to that person. With a new challenge on the horizon, she did the same thing she always did when she failed: She got her a** back to work.
The brain is a fascinating place. Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert talks about how our thoughts and beliefs about happiness can significantly impact us. It's interesting to learn what makes you happy and what you think will make you happy "one day."
Learn about how your brain's frontal lobe processing and biases can affect your life. You can also get to the scientific roots of your happiness and change your life for the better.