Learning from Failure to Maintain High Commitment and Performance

This Element is an excerpt from From Lemons to Lemonade: Squeeze Every Last Drop of Success Out of Your Mistakes (ISBN: 9780131362734) by Dean A. Shepherd. Available in print and digital formats.

How to manage failure so you can learn from it, move on without becoming debilitated--and achieve far greater success next time.

The more committed you are to a project, the less likely it will fail, but the worse you will feel if it does fail. The less committed you are to a project, the less bad you will feel if it fails, but the greater the likelihood that it will fail. Why can some people make the considerable commitment necessary for project success while quickly learning from their experiences if the project fails, but others are unable or slow to do so?