When you shoot for the stars you risk falling flat on your face; and while you may bounce back quickly the first time, for many, it becomes more difficult to rise again when the pathetic results don’t match the tremendous effort.

Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”.

Well what if you have lost enthusiasm?

What happens if you have hit rock bottom and want to give up?

Consider these four strategies before you throw in the towel:

1. Learn the lesson

What’s the point of experiencing the pain of failure if you’re not going to capture a valuable lesson from it? The more you’re willing learn from failure, the less it will intimidate you. When you experience those slumps, refuse to sell yourself the sob story of, “It’s because I’m just not good enough”, or “It’s just not meant to be”; you don’t learn lessons from that kind of self-talk! Instead, focus on improving your strategies; “What am I doing wrong?” or “How can I stay more focused?”

Questions to consider:

–       How can this set back make me stronger?

–       What can I learn from this failure?

2. Revisit your motivation

When things are bad, negativity will keep you from seeing things as they really are. Rather than focusing your attention on all of your deficiencies, take a few minutes to reflect on why you decided to take this journey in the first place. Keeping things in perspective will give you the strength to keep your head up and run against the wind.

Questions to consider:

–       What do I want to accomplish?

–       How do I want to be remembered?

–       What do I want to become in the process?

3. Make a plan

Its been said,

“Without a plan, there’s no attack. Without attack, no victory.”

The key to triumph is to plan for it.  Rock bottom is the perfect place to start building, so while you’re down there, design the blue print for your future success.

Questions to consider:

In order to be successful…

–       What do I need to start doing?

–       What do I need to stop doing?

–       What do I need to continue to do?

4. Keep it simple

Refuse to fall into the trap of trying to make up for all of your mistakes at one time. If your plans for success require a complete mental and behavioural overhaul—start small. Focus on one thing you need to improve, and develop it until it becomes a habit; then move on to the next one. When you’re starting over, you need to recommit to focusing on the process; and if you consistently do so, the results will follow.

Questions to consider:

–       What are my priorities?

–       What can I control right now?

If you’re currently lying on the canvas listening to the referee counting you out; take courage in knowing that anyone who’s ever achieved great things has experienced the pain of being knocked down—so you’re in good company. Take a deep breath. Get up. Get going.