The rise of an automotive disruptor, Tesla, has been anything but plain sailing.
They’ve hit numerous stumbling blocks, some of which would topple less pragmatic companies.
Luckily for Tesla, it’s run by Elon Musk, who, despite the many setbacks his firm has encountered, still believes that it will one day beat Apple’s $700 billion market cap.
But what about us, the humble workers? How can we learn from companies like Tesla when our own careers appear to hit rock bottom?
I think there are a few brilliant ways anyone can bounce back from a career disaster, and I’d like to share them with you today:
You’ve made mistakes, sure. If you look back at the period during which things started to go wrong, you could have acted differently; I get that.
But such thoughts are only available with hindsight and it doesn’t change the fact you are where you are.
What you need to focus on now, is the fact that you haven’t actually failed – you’ve just hit a roadblock.
The events and decisions that led you here are all lessons from which you can grow and become a better, stronger and more inspired worker.
Career disasters take many forms and the finger of blame can be pointed in plenty of directions, but there will have been actions on your behalf for which only you were responsible.
Take responsibility for these actions as soon as you can. Accept that you were the only person who decided to do, say or feel whatever it was that’s now history.
Once you take responsibility, you can start to do something about it.
So, things are bad – really bad. But you’ve accepted that you haven’t failed and you’ve taken responsibility for your part in this career blip (that’s all it is, after all).
What you do next is absolutely vital to ensuring that your career successfully navigates this episode cleanly and starts afresh.
Take action for this disaster. Write a plan that clearly details what you’ll do next and the things you’ll need to change to be successful in the future.
You’ve learned so much, so once you’ve picked yourself up off the floor and dusted off the bruises (they won’t hang around for long), put your learnings into action.
There’s a chance you’ve ended up in this situation because you neglected the vital task of occasionally checking in on your own career.
Like anything in life, for a career to continue an upward trajectory, it needs to be periodically reviewed.
What’s going right? What’s failing miserably? What potential roadblocks can you see in the distance?
Using your previous career disaster as all the motivation you need to avoid feeling that way ever again, schedule in regular career reviews to ensure you’re not becoming complacent.
You can get through this – I promise. At the moment, it might feel like the whole world is against you and that the size of the issue you’re facing is simply too big to overcome.
Whenever those thoughts occur, ask yourself: how is thinking in that way helping you?
Negative thoughts are cancerous – keep them at bay, use my tips above and you’ll be able to get over even the biggest of career disasters far quicker than you might think.
