Find your inner superhero! Psychologist, Honey Langcaster-James, shares her tips for staying strong when things aren’t going your way
1. Be your own best friend
Missing your fitness target, overeating or failing to hit a milestone can be demotivating, so treat yourself kindly – as if you were a small child, or a friend who had made a mistake. You don’t need harsh criticism; you need to be soothed and encouraged.
2. Think positively
In the face of failure, boost your mood by saying to yourself: ‘This was a bump in the road. I am picking myself up and continuing on with my journey.’
3. Learn from it
Remember, you can sometimes learn more from failure than you can from success. You begin to understand what to avoid and what not to do in the future.
4. Get motivated
Use failure to spur yourself on by acknowledging the goal you failed to attain, but then focusing on all the positive changes you’ve made instead. You’ll remind yourself of the goals you have reached and this will motivate you to keep going.
5. Push yourself further
Failure can also give you a wake-up call. It’s easy to get complacent when things come easily. Challenging goals also provide greater rewards, so the occasional failure when you’re aiming for a harder goal can help you appreciate your successes even more.