The question is if failure is inevitable, what can you do to bounce back and continue on the path after suffering a defeat? In this OA guide, we’ll walk you through the four principles behind rebounding from a loss and coming back a stronger, more determined, and wiser person.

The first step to overcoming your failures is knowing when to retreat. In the military and SOF world, people are encouraged to push through every obstacle they encounter and never rest until their mission is complete. There is some merit to this. When it’s time to execute your mission, you must do it with aggression and enthusiasm. But if you fail – whether through a lack of planning, errors, or simply bad luck – you must also know when to take a step back and reassess your situation. Sometimes, you must make the difficult choice to live to fight another day. 

The second principle behind rebounding from a failure is learning from your mistakes and shortcomings. Your loss may be a tough pill to swallow, but it will likely be one of the most sobering and impactful lessons you ever learn. Once you’ve had a reasonable amount of time to rest after your loss (this time frame depends on the magnitude of your defeat), take some time to write down a brief account of the events that led up to your failure.

What did you do right? What went wrong? What could you have done differently? If you want to maximize how much you learn from your defeat, you must be honest and objective about your loss. There is almost always something that you could have done better or differently to mitigate your failure, whether it’s planning longer or communicating more with your team.

Once you’ve identified your errors and the weaknesses that caused them, make a plan for how you will remedy and eliminate these shortcomings. Making a blunder once is natural – repeating the same mistake is a product of ignorance. 

The most crucial aspect of overcoming failures is making the conscious decision to get back up after falling. You must choose to continue fighting despite the setbacks you encounter. Failing is inevitable, but losing is a choice. Lean on your teammates and ensure that every member of your group has a warrior’s mindset. If even one person is unwilling to rise to the occasion and get back in the fight, your entire team will suffer.

Depending on what you learned from your loss, you may have to make changes in your team to redistribute responsibilities or even replace teammates. The welfare of the group and the importance of the mission come before the individual. If the group is in disarray after the loss, you must become the leader and get them back into fighting shape. Learn more about the different ways you can lead a team to victory by reading our other OA guide, The 7 Styles of Leadership.

Accountability is the key to recovering from a loss and coming back better than you were before. If you don’t take responsibility for your failures, you won’t make the changes necessary to overcome the same enemy when you encounter them again. In modern society, people would rather blame others for their losses and shortcomings instead of choosing to make a change in their lives. If you’re on the SOF pathway, being surrounded by people who lack ownership could be doing more damage than you think. We created the Operators Association to create a community where driven, disciplined, accountable people come together to help each other improve.

When you become an OA Aspiring Operator, you get instant access to our weekly accountability group. There, our team of current and former SOF operators will make sure you stay on track with your goals and have the skills you need to thrive as an operator. Browse our membership packages to get started today!