Sharing: Dealing with Career Setbacks

 Just Sharing

I was about to be fired from my job waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant when I quit.  I refused to serve more than one jumbo margarita to a pregnant woman and later in the week a burrito platter was knocked from my hands onto another diner’s new coat.  In one case I made an unpopular point, in another, it wasn’t my fault.  However, I needed a night job so I could finish my graduate degree and I was finally getting Friday night shifts (big tips!) after a year at the restaurant.  Financial setback.  And a hit to my morale (“it isn’t fair”).
Previously, during my undergraduate degree, I was a salesperson in the Juniors department at a big department store.  I had a full-time job with a full-time school schedule and was living away from home for the first time.  I was tired.  When traffic slowed down one night, I laid down on the sale table, covered myself with $9.00 dollar t-shirts, and fell asleep.  Until the screams of an unwitting customer looking for a t-shirt woke me up.  My manager lectured me, but gave me a second chance.  But it impacted the trust I had with my manager and my colleagues.  I was no longer on the “high potential” list to become a manager.  I was watched closely, which was embarrassing.
We’ve all had setbacks, whether we made a mistake, or we made a stand, or something happened we had absolutely no control over.  The point is:  what do you do next?  Does the situation begin to stand for who you are, what you can contribute, your outlook on life?  Or do you learn something, make amends as best you can, and move on.  Resilience is a key character trait for a great career.

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey
Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo

source: Dealing with Career Setbacks