Bounce back: A short article on how to do it
Because shit happens all the time.
Champions are defined by how good they bounce back during adversities.
We know that, and there are probably a million quotes just like this in the internet.
The whole idea is that when you fail in the finals, you should come back harder next season.
It means when your business comes to bankruptcy, try again.
It means when you fail the board exam, you study harder and take it again next time.
Basically “bouncing back” is “trying again” after a big failure.
But in this article, I want to share 2 things I learned about bouncing back.
And this idea came up while I’m trying to find an inspiration to bring back my motivation during a period where it seems everything is not going my way.
#1 Bounce back is more than just trying again.
The preparation and training you go through to prepare yourself to have a better outcome next time is the real bounce back.
And this is next level bounce back.
Quitters stop trying.
And egotistical fools try again without improving anything.
You don’t just try again, you have to improve yourself first.
Or nothing will change.
After your failure, it’s good if you have the heart and passion to want to go back at it again. With even more intensity.
But you have to be wise about.
Ask yourself what did you do wrong? What made me fail?
What skill do I need to learn or improve to do better next time?
What needs to change and what needs to be retained?
Who do I need to ask for for help?
We all marvel at the stories of great successful people and how they bounced back after a failure.
But assessing how they did it, it is evident that they all improved something with their next attempt.
In the early years of Kobe Bryant’s career in basketball, on one particular series, he air balled several crucial shot attempts that made his team lose the series.
You know that he’ll try again, but later interviews revealed that after the air balls, he was trying to figure out why.
He concluded that he had not trained himself for the grueling long season of the NBA. And that in that particular moment, he was already exhausted.
So he trained himself to endure it next time.
Steve Jobs was ousted in Apple, a company he co-founded.
And probably because he lacks the maturity of handling people in business with him.
He still had the renegade style he used to start the company in dealing with their board and executives.
During his comeback in 1997, many commented that he had matured greatly on his past weakness.
So he did not just came back, he came back better.
And we all know the story of Thomas Edison and how he invented the light bulb.
How he did not fail but rather found a thousand ways on how it would not work.
So after a thousand improvements, he invented the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb.
It’s one thing to try again.
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But what would complete the bounce back is your effort to prepare for it.
#2 Bounce back is not only for the major failures
It can and should be done everyday.
Because as I’ve said, shit happens all the time.
We always have something that we’re attaining to do.
And things always comes to stop us.
Bounce back from that.
In my recent project, where I’m trying to collect full payment for the restroom we did, the client raised a lot of concerns about our work.
There were small details with our job that she wants us to redo.
I’m not a long time contractor yet, but I know this is a small job. Something that I should have easily done.
The small failures that caused the delays on my collection and the shame from my customer ruined my day.
And thinking about bouncing back tomorrow, I know I should be more meticulous in the finishing job of my workers.
Tomorrow and moving forward I would make my instructions clearer.
And accountability for each workers will be implemented better.
We are on our way to move to a bigger and better condo unit.
We got our unit for a good price but the owner is very strict on a lot of things, for he was asking for things not usually required, all for his assurance that I have the capacity to pay the rent.
The thing was, given with his by-the-book standards, my first check issued for the rent deposit bounced.
Not because I didn’t had the fund, but because I forgot that I used another checking account for their payments. An account I barely use.
Now I’m still waiting if we will get approved with our rent or not.
Once again it ruined my day, so I wanted to bounce back.
I made a new system within me, that includes all checks I issued, business and personal, to monitor and prompt a day before whenever there’s a check that needs funding.
I was trying to buy an Apple Pencil in facebook marketplace one time.
I had this seller who had to explain to me how to spot a fake one from not.
In the end I told him that I would browse some more and think about it.
Later that day, he messaged me for a follow up. I did not reply, because I needed more time to think about it.
Little did I know, I was dealing with a psychopath. That night he barraged me with messages on how I wasted his time, and how stupid I was for doubting the authenticity of his item.
I’m not the kind of person who thrives in conflict, specially ones where I have to deal with someone irrational, so it really ruined my night.
Thinking of bouncing back from this, I realized I should still have replied to his follow up message.
May or may it not trigger the craziness of other people, at least I was polite enough to acknowledge.
Things will always come to ruin your day.
And each of them requires for you to bounce back.
And I believe this small failures when not attended to will accumulate, and comes back to you bigger.
The small mistakes that you blamed on others.
The small mistakes that you did not improve on.
But attending to it, bouncing back every time will also accumulate the improvements you made with yourself.
Finding your small flaws.
Finding your share of fault in every problem.
And bouncing back by improving them.
It will come back to protect you later on from making the same mistakes.
