In our working lives, just like in our personal lives, each of us experiences failures, setbacks, and tough breaks. Not every new idea pans out the way we hoped. Maybe you experienced unhealthy conflict with a coworker, or an enticing project got assigned to someone else despite your seemingly perfect skill set. Maybe you didn’t hit your targets for this month, or intakes for the quarter were slightly down. Whatever the professional “miss,” it’s really easy to get mired in frustration and react poorly by shifting blame or by simply beating yourself up.
There’s a whole body of research that suggests a better way. Blaming others or circumstances, which may temporarily feel soothing, impedes learning. Self-deprecation, a normal human response to setbacks, leads to an inaccurate view of personal potential and works to inhibit growth and development. What if, instead of just REACTING, you could use professional setbacks as a springboard to learning, growth, and professional development? You can accomplish this through the act of self-compassion. Like any new skill or exercise, it will likely take some practice for you to be able to flex the self-compassion muscle. But what a valuable muscle it is!
Once you make self-compassion a practice and integrate it into your business, you’ll start to see strong shifts in your overall culture. These shifts represent the power that self-compassion holds. Your organization will become a more empowering, healthy, and inspiring place to work. Your team will begin to reach deeper and achieve heights you may have never imagined. For a simple practice, that’s impressive stuff.