It’s All in How You Recover

Great recovery Jeri! Those were the judge’s words written on my daughter’s speech evaluation from her FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) competition last week.

Jeri knew she messed up part of her speech, but nothing delighted me more than hearing from the judge that she recovered well! Jeri is already learning that how we recover from a pitfall is often more important than the pitfall itself.

How much of what we do every day in our personal and professional life requires recovering? Consider these familiar situations.

The disappointed client. Clients expect consistency, not perfection. How we recover from a mishap creates deeper client loyalty than perfect service. It’s the recovery process that creates a conversation and shows your tenacious desire to consult and perform.

The leadership blunder. We all make them. How we recover from a bad decision, a wrong hire, or a delayed termination is crucial. Recovery doesn’t mean that you hide, create a scapegoat or pass the blame. Recovery is about how you use your blunder to better yourself or your environment. People are watching. Use your blunder as a teaching moment.

The personal tragedy. How we recover from a personal tragedy can be a bit more complicated, but it is still a situation that demands forward movement, whether it’s one breath at a time, one step at a time, or running. Recovery is about movement. Even if your mishap has you paralyzed, looking forward starts the recovery process.

You cannot waste your time looking back at your mishap, wishing it hadn’t happened. That’s regret, not recovery, and it will take up too much emotion and prevent you from recovering. Recovery requires positive energy, and it allows you to use what happened as a springboard towards something else. You don’t forget your mishap or tragedy; you use it.

The opposite of a great recovery is to become paralyzed because you ignore your mistake or blunder or tragedy and pretend it didn’t happen. Whether it’s messing up on a speech, disappointing a client, hurting a friend, or facing adversity, recovery takes forward movement.

Great recoveries do have their rewards. Jeri and her team are going to State!


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