Ah… magical, mythical, nonexistent, straight-line forward progress. Yes, nonexistent. The best and most successful still have an upward trend line that looks more like a set of stairs than a straight line.
We’ve all been there: everything is working, prospective business is booming, we have the momentum behind us, and then…a deal falls through, a client order is smaller than expected, or our product is delayed again. Then we begin the vicious, downward cycle of self-defeat, worry, and catastrophizing.
What if we did something better instead?
Learn
In every defeat, failure, or minor speed bump, there is a lesson to learn. Where could we have misread the situation? Where could our plans or contingencies have been stronger? How could we have communicated more effectively or proactively? There are so many questions we can ask that help us learn from our setbacks and frustrations. The final, most important question is: how can we apply what we’ve learned to increase forward progress?
Channel Frustration into Positive Action
Can we build a deeper pipeline so all hopes don’t ride on one or two prospective clients? Can we invest more time and energy into product or service development and refinement? Should we dedicate more energy to supporting our team members? We can sulk and be sad that things didn’t go our way, or we can identify positive actions we can take to keep moving forward and channel our anger, frustration, sadness…whatever…into those actions.
Celebrate the Net Gain
A net one step forward is still net forward motion. Don’t ignore the positive progress. Don’t suppress it and focus only on the one step back. Celebrate those small wins. Over time they accumulate and increase our confidence in our ability to go after and achieve bigger wins.
Don’t Lose Faith
I know this one is a bit sappy, but we simply cannot lose faith that we will find ways forward to succeed. Remember the Stockdale Paradox: don’t be afraid to confront the absolute, most brutal reality of your situation, but at the same time, never waiver in your faith that you will find a way to prevail successfully in the end.
Have a Strong Support System
It really is lonely at the top. As the owner or leader, you must have a strong, dependable support system. Have trust team members, dedicated family members, friends to commiserate with, and trusted external advisors to ground you and help you put your challenges into the proper context. Encourage these people to give you honest, supportive feedback, to ground you, to challenges you, and to celebrate the net forward progress with you.
It’s not easy to deal with perceived (or actual) frustrations or lack of forward progress, but there are things we can do to channel our frustrations into positive outcomes that hopefully lead to fewer future frustrations and greater success. Try a few of these tips the next time you’re feeling a little down about taking two steps forward and one back.
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