Turning Setbacks to Comebacks

I Am No Stranger to Failure

In Fact, I Have a Degree in Setbacks but I Major in Comebacks…

I failed in my school life…

On the first term during my first year in university, I failed major subjects. But on the second term, I became an honour student and was even part of the dean’s list.

I failed in my love life…

I experienced my first heartbreak from my first boyfriend who was born on Christmas day. A year later, I had a new boyfriend and his birthday falls on Valentine’s day.

I failed in my work life…

I experienced retrenchment from a local company. Few months after a multinational company has hired me with better pay, better benefits and a better boss.

How did These Happen?

Failing is common but staying as a failure is only an option.

We must never give-in to depression, lack of motivation nor procrastination.

I know this is easier said than done.

Oftentimes, after every failure comes anxiety especially when crippling fear fills our minds due to “what’s next“uncertainty.

This is the reason why I decided to write about a method that I discovered, tried and tested. What I’m going to share with you helped me in getting my fire back every time I experience a setback.

The secret formula is no other than,

Fast heart beating, intensified breathing, palm sweating and inside butterflies wildly flapping. These are all the physical symptoms when you are feeling fear. These are also the physical symptoms you feel when you are excited. This is because fear is exactly the same physical state as excitement.

According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, Fear and excitement are both conditions of heightened awareness that activate similar feelings of arousal. Physiologically-speaking, the adrenaline that courses through our body when we are scared is the same adrenaline that courses through our body when we are excited.

The Good News is We can Decide Whether to Feel Fear or Experience Excitement.

While you can’t change your body’s physical sensations — you can change how your body interprets the sensations with the simple shift to positive thinking.  It is through the conscious mind that the same experience for one person can be fearsome or exciting.

This Technique is called…

It is turning a Threat Mindset to an Opportunity Mindset.

Proof No.1: Study by Alison Wood Brooks of Harvard Business School

This is proven by a series of research experiments conducted by Harvard Business School Professor, Alison Wood Brooks and reported by Atlantic Magazine writer Olga Khazan. The research experiment includes gathering participants who were asked to do a series of tasks including singing karaoke, speaking in public, and completing a difficult math test under time pressure. In the study, after saying “I’m excited!” participants in the karaoke experiment sang 17% better, those who did the speaking test are 17% more confident and the students who did the math test under time pressure got 22% better results than those who tried to stay calm and those who said “I’m scared”.

Proof No.2: Study by Jeremy Jamieson of University of Rochester

Another study by Jeremy Jamieson of University of Rochester where he the participants were told that anxiety could improve performance verifies that reframing anxiety as a positive thing helped people do better on Public Speaking.

Proof No.3: Study by American Marketing Association

Another study published in Academic Journals by American Marketing Association states participants who listed down their goals at the beginning of the year and said the phrase “I am excited” out loud to themselves felt motivated that they can accomplish their goals by the end of the year.

Proof No.4: Personal Experience

Based on personal experience I also tried this first-hand. At the beginning of this blog post, I mentioned that I failed in several occasions in my life, in my school life, in my love life, and my work life. Turning fear into excitement has been the method that helped me in getting my fire back to turn my Setbacks into Comebacks.

Now that you are aware of this technique I hope you can apply this whenever you feel agog, anxious or afraid.

Whether you are going to try to apply for a new job, or starting on another project.

Turn your Threat Mindset into Opportunity Mindset.

Stay Sane, Stay Safe.

God Bless!

Love always,