‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’

This proverb is attributed to the 'Teacher's Manual' by American educator, Thomas H. Palmer. It was designed to encourage students to do their homework in the early 19th century.

It is as apropos today, as it was back then. Life is easier in some regards, and harder in others. Twist, turns, failures, bumps and bruises are an inevitable part of life, regardless of the era in which you live. Coping with everyday challenges—like mastering a skateboard trick—and traumatic events, like a life-changing global pandemic, require resilience and perseverance.

Resilience is defined as, “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress”, and we all have it in varying degrees. Cultivating resilience can result in profound personal growth and self-awareness. Perseverance, “is persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success” —both require a focus on the positive and the ability to brush off failure and disappointment.

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes—understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.”
—Arianna Huffington

Failure is part of the process. It doesn’t define you, in fact, it helps you learn and become stronger. Before launching The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington was an author—her second book was rejected by 36 publishers. Similarly, Jeff Bezos had several failed business ideas—but he learned from his failures and eventually they led to Amazon. In fact, very few entrepreneurs ever make it big without first experiencing failure. Mastering anything the first time around is incredibly rare. I takes hard work, practice, patience, perseverance and resilience.

So how do you cultivate resilience in yourself? Clinical psychologist Meg Jay shares these best practices:

1. Recognize that your struggle is valid.
2. Realize the ways you’re already resilient.
3. Don’t wait for the situation to fix itself, be active in finding a solution.
4. Know your strengths and use them.
5. Don’t try to do it alone.
6. Take a mental break.
7. Be compassionate with yourself.
8. Realize all the ways adversity has made you stronger.