Overcome a setback like a boss: Five steps of dealing with setbacks

Recent research has shown that hard workers are more inspiring than geniuses. Those who are resilient enough to face setbacks and overcome them work hard at their success and are more inspiring than those who seem to possess some sort of innate talent. This may be news to you, as the cultural narrative around success is often that it is a set, fixed goal, rather than a journey with ups and downs along the way, but more recent research has suggested that viewing our achieve­ments as part of a journey helps to maintain success, rather than ticking boxes or com­plet­ing fixed goals. That is why learning how to overcome setbacks is important.

If we an­tic­i­pate setbacks, ac­knowl­edge them, stop blaming ourselves for them, and allow time for us to step out of our comfort zones, we can see our pro­fes­sion­al success as part of a journey, which should help to maintain it. Let’s take a look at what a setback is, before moving on to a step-by-step approach for how to deal with setbacks.

Setbacks can appear in life in so many different forms. In our personal life, they may manifest as financial or health and wellbeing problems, re­la­tion­ship issues, or personal loss. In pro­fes­sion­al en­vi­ron­ments, setbacks include not getting a job or promotion that you wanted, not securing a contract with a new client, or simply getting feedback that you find difficult to work with. The umbrella term “setback” is difficult to do justice to in a short article, and for this reason we will look only at setbacks in the business world.

If you’re wondering how to deal with setbacks, it’s likely you’ve already ex­pe­ri­enced one. Perhaps you’re re­flect­ing on how you’ve pre­vi­ous­ly handled a setback, or you’re in the midst of coping with one now. In jobs in which you might feel like you’re in the minority, it can be difficult to address the nuance of what the setback is in your situation, and why it came about. Women in tech are sure to recognize the highs and lows of their pro­fes­sion, with all the setbacks and ad­van­tages that their careers bring. Knowing how to deal with setbacks is the first step to personal pro­fes­sion­al im­prove­ment. Setbacks often get framed as mistakes and dealing with mistakes at work, or a culture of good con­struc­tive criticism is still a challenge in most work­places. Knowing how to overcome a setback on a personal level is helpful for any pro­fes­sion­al en­vi­ron­ment, and if you run your own business, you may be able to apply this on a corporate level too.

A setback is, for the purposes of this article, an event in your pro­fes­sion­al life that thwarts plans you may have made for your business, or disrupts how you were expecting to be able to work. As mentioned, this can be several different things, but an un­ex­pect­ed dismissal or loss of a client can be par­tic­u­lar­ly difficult to deal with. We’ll outline the five stages of over­com­ing a setback here.

Setbacks are normal, and everyone faces them. Some people may have to face bigger setbacks than others, but it is part of the human ex­pe­ri­ence to see things not go to plan. This may be one of the most re­as­sur­ing things to hear if you’re prone to ex­pe­ri­enc­ing imposter syndrome where you feel as if everyone else is far more qualified than you, or that you’re simply out of place in your pro­fes­sion­al en­vi­ron­ment. Knowing that everyone ex­pe­ri­ences setbacks is a good foun­da­tion to un­der­stand­ing that whilst a setback, when it happens, may not be welcome, it is something everyone can expect to happen in their career.

In the same way that we have to learn to expect setbacks in our working lives, when they do happen, it can be detri­men­tal to try and deny that they’ve happened. Com­mu­ni­cat­ing with your boss or your col­leagues during a per­for­mance review is a great way to ac­knowl­edge things that haven’t gone to plan, and why per­for­mance might not be at the required level. Look at the setback head-on, and this will enable you to start dealing with it honestly and pro­duc­tive­ly.

If you or your company ex­pe­ri­ence a setback, you’ll likely want to know where things went “wrong”. This can be a difficult thing to do, es­pe­cial­ly if there are a few people involved in the setback. One thing to try and avoid is shifting blame between people. Not only will this kill off any good employee mo­ti­va­tion but it won’t usually help overcome the setback. There is a dif­fer­ence between un­der­stand­ing what has happened and what needs im­prove­ment and blaming yourself or someone else for that. Blame isn’t the key to a good working en­vi­ron­ment.

All things are temporary. Even if it feels like you’re caught in the middle of a PR nightmare things will metaphor­i­cal­ly blow over and you’ll be able to calmly brush yourself off and pick up the pieces. It is never pleasant to have to deal with a setback, but if you address things with sincerity and honesty, you should be able to overcome the setback you face in some manner.

Over­com­ing a setback may involve making some difficult decisions. Balancing holding people ac­count­able for their actions and not playing a blame game will take you out of your comfort zone and will require you to master good pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion. These things take time and practice, but you’ll get there so much faster by pushing yourself, working hard and getting out of your comfort zone.

Expecting and rec­og­niz­ing setbacks are the first important steps to dealing with setbacks. When you realize that you’re ex­pe­ri­enc­ing a setback, keep on looking forward. Don’t blame anyone for your setback but rather try to un­der­stand which cir­cum­stances caused it. So you’ll be more prepared if it happens again. Don’t waste your time re­gret­ting things you can’t change anymore. Put your energy into working hard and try something new by getting out of your comfort zone!

If we reflect to what was mentioned in the in­tro­duc­tion of this article, hard work is more inspiring than innate talent, and only through hard work can you get out of your comfort zone. Sus­tain­able success has been shown in research to be built on framing your pro­fes­sion­al success as a journey – with all the setbacks and successes that come along with that.

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