Let’s talk about Failure..
I’ve been reading a lot of social media posts lately where the poster is very distressed about an adverse outcome on a case. I can read their distress in the post. The self-judgement, the blame, the inner voice saying ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘Why did you do this’, ‘You suck’, etc, etc.
Veterinarians are high achievers who don’t like to make mistakes and have a fear of failure.
Usually what is also written in their post is ‘I’m such a failure’.
No, you are not!
You may have make a mistake. You may have failed but you aren’t a failure.
There are a number of important distinctions.
I ‘have’ failed points to something you did, an action you took that lead to the adverse outcome. Change the action, change the outcome.
I ‘am’ a failure points to a character trait, something innate within you. Just become something went wrong doesn’t mean YOU are a failure.
Your mindset is also critical.
The event occurred. It’s what you make the event mean which determines whether you view it as a failure or something else.
What do you define as a failure? If it’s any going wrong, every adverse outcome or a case not going perfectly, then you better be ready to cope with lots of failure. If you set such high standards, then be prepared to deal with cases, clients and team members who can’t meet them. Are the high standards to reach excellence or to be perfect and to exert control?
What if the event is a learning experience instead? A way of improving and growing?
Resilience is being able to cope with adversity, overcome challenges and reach out for help. When things go wrong, there is no point wallowing in self-pity and blaming yourself.
Take the learning. Ask for help. Get back in the game.
Change your mindset, change your outcome: It’s not failure, it’s feedback!
It’s how you view mistakes and adversity that will determine your success in practice.
View them as failure and you will be exhausting, burned out and frustrated by trying to unsuccessfully achieve perfection.
View them as learning and growth and you will improve your knowledge, skills and abilities to reach excellence, mastery and new achievements.
Watch the YouTube video to learn more: https://youtu.be/AeLf7WtILrE
Dr Natasha Wilks
