Failure hurts. You think you’ll never recover, but with time and support, most of us will pull out of our funk. Photo: File.
Workplaces can be unforgiving, and Roberta Matuson remembers when she was suddenly and inexplicably out of a job – and what she did to tackle this misfortune.
When I was 24 I was promoted into the executive suite. Six years later, I was fired. I thought I’d never recover from being let go, but here I am, stronger than ever.
Failure hurts. You think you’ll never recover, but with time and support, most of us will pull out of our funk. Here’s what I learned from this experience.
You can only control so much: For six years, I did a great job (at least that’s what I was told), then one day, someone decided I was no longer worthy of the position I was occupying.
Of course, at the time I blamed myself; all kinds of thoughts went through my head.
“You’re not as great as you think.”
“No-one will want you now that you’re damaged goods.”
“Everyone is going to know what just happened to you (and this was way before there was such a thing as social media) and want to stay as far away from you as possible.”
It was as if getting fired was a contagious disease. I was listening to my damaged ego when instead, I should have been listening to my heart, which was questioning why I’d give up on doing something I loved so much.
To recover from this unexpected turn of events, I took a year off and travelled the world by myself, where I learned another valuable lesson.
Wherever you go, you take yourself: Many of you right now have reached a place where you’re no longer happy with your current work situation.
Perhaps you’re frustrated with your team’s lack of engagement. Or you’ve been passed over for a promotion. Or worse, the division you work for is being shut down and you must find a new role within your organisation or be unemployed.
You may be unable to take a year off and work things out. I get it, which is why I’m here to help. A lot of my coaching clients are in similar situations.
One client needed to boost her visibility statistics to avoid losing out on potential reassignments.
Failure to accomplish this goal would have resulted in her losing more than $500,000 in retirement income.
Our work together helped her achieve her goal. She has a brand-new role and feels secure knowing her retirement goals will be met.
Another client is stepping up his game and is gunning for a promotion. I’m confident he’ll have a new title before too long.
Past coaching clients have recognised that something is holding them back from success.
They weren’t quite sure what that was, but they were ready to find out and did the necessary work to advance in their careers.
Most of you who are reading this will have experienced failure or frustration at one time or another. What you do at these moments will define your future.
You can sit, stew, and ask yourself repeatedly: “Why me?” Or you can take control of the narrative and move forward.
Are you ready to turn your career setback into a comeback?
Roberta Matuson is President of Matuson Consulting which helps Fortune 500 companies and high-growth businesses create exceptional workplaces leading to extraordinary results. She can be contacted at [email protected]. This article first appeared on Roberta’s blogsite.
