Don't meet failure unprepared. Here is the exact system I use to bounce back.
Why we aren't able to make good decisions after a flop and the 3-step science-backed system.
The hardest moment for a high performer isn’t the work. It is meeting failure.
You hit “publish” on a new app or “send” on a massive proposal. You check the results. A flop.
You wait an hour. Refresh. Still a flop.
Before the disappointment, there is a pause. A two second window where you feel absolutely nothing. You just stare at the screen while your brain processes the silence.
Then, the overthinking hits hard. Your brain bypasses logic and goes straight for the ego: My idea was garbage. I’m not cut out for this. Why did I even start?
Next comes the whispering desire to delete the post, ghost the client, or do something illogical just to hide the evidence of your failure.
This isn’t just a bad mood. It is a physical reaction in your body.
If you don’t prepare for failure, you might end up making a huge mistake out of impulse or not learn anything from it.
But if you are prepared, you will be able to bounce back as soon as you encounter it.
We will cover:
The science behind how your brain reacts to failure.
The mindset shift you need to do.
The full protocol I use to bounce back.
The “Failure Hangover” (why we can’t focus after a flop)
Unfortunately, our brain is outdated.
It does not understand the internet, know what a sales metric or know what a dashboard is.
It only understands one word: survival.
Every time you live a “flop” your brain does what is called a “Social Evaluation Threat.”
Your brain has learned to live in a tribe and because you are putting your work out for the world to judge, it treats a lack of views as a sign that you are losing your reputation (which it thinks could affect your future chances of getting food).
Your brain basically sounds the alarm every time your dashboard sees a 0.
It floods your system with stress hormones to make you hyper-aware of the problem. It is what causes that sudden feeling of frustration.
This is annoying enough by itself, but it has a silent consequence: the brain drain.
You are sitting at your desk, staring at a screen, dealing with a wave of frustration. You want to impulsively delete the post or quit for the week. But you of course do not. You force yourself to hold those feelings back.
This is where the real damage happens.
Suppressing that anger requires huge mental processing power. It acts like a parasite sucking up your energy.
Your brain starts using most of its focus to keep you from closing your tab out of frustration.
That means it has barely any left to do the actual work.
You lose your thinking power. The exact focus you need to write a post, design a better website, or fix the main problem is completely gone because of the fact you are trying to control your emotions.
I hit this trap myself. Early on, I published a Medium post and I was dead certain was going to be a hit.
It got four reads.
Instead of stepping away, I tried to push through the frustration. I remained in my chair and forced myself to immediately start writing another piece while my neurons were completely overloaded.
The result was garbage. I wasted hours trying to fix a problem with a drained brain.
If you do this too much, your brain will eventually force you to stop building things entirely. It will kill your ambition just to keep you away from the stress.
A mindset shift is necessary to stop this.
The Mindset Shift: The Engineer
A failed launch, a rejected proposal, or an app with zero downloads is not a “threat” (like your brain would see it). It is simply a physics problem.
When a newly built house crumbles to the ground, an engineer doesn’t sit in the rubble and wonder if they are cut out for this.
They pull out the blueprints and they check if the foundation cracked or if the soil shifted.
You must learn to treat your failed projects like a collapsed building: coldly and structurally.
This simple mental shift changes your biology. By forcing yourself to look at the data instead of your personal flaws, you redirect blood flow in your head. You pull blood away from the panic center of your brain, and you push it forward into the logic center, where problem-solving happens.
This obviously is easier said than done, but the following system will help you achieve that more easily and even help you learn from your mistakes a lot better.
The 3 Step System
Step 1: The 24-Hour Red Tape.
This step is very simple and important.
Do not look at the data and do not make any decisions for 24 hours after a flop. Put caution tape around the rubble and go to sleep.
Why?
Because dreaming sleep (REM) acts as overnight recovery. It is the only time your brain removes the harsh stress chemicals away from its system. You cannot figure out what went wrong while the rubble is still smoking (or while you are still frustrated). You have to let it cool.
The next day, it will then be far easier to do the following evaluation.
Step 2: The 3-Point Diagnostic.
Once the rumble has cooled the next day, look at the three main pillars of any project:
The Foundation (The Idea): Did the real world actually want this, or was I blinded because I wanted it to work so badly? Was the product something people actually needed? Did the pitch actually solve a real problem? Was the strategy backed by cold math, or just an emotional gut feeling?
The Architecture (The Execution): Was the idea great, but built or delivered terribly? Was the written proposal confusing and too long to read? Was the core idea right, but the timing of the move completely off?
The Location (The Environment): Was the work flawless, but put in the wrong place? Did I show the perfect tool to the wrong group of people? Did I use a good strategy in a bad market?
Step 3: The Simple Fix.
Find the one aspect that went wrong first. You do not start from scratch, this is just a waste of time.
Take my failed Medium post with the four reads. The idea was fine; people wanted the topic.
The problem was much simpler: the title (the execution). It was too confusing, so nobody clicked it.
I didn’t delete the whole template I used to make my posts. I just changed the template for the title specifically for a clearer and simpler version. Once the adjustment has been made try again and see if it works.
Fix the Math
Don’t let a simple failure destroy your entire project. Professionals learn and let it dictate their next attempt.
A failed launch doesn’t mean you are a bad builder; it just means you can learn something.
You are now no longer guessing in the dark or leaving your success up to luck.
You now have the blueprints, the science, and the exact protocol to rebuild.
Go pull up that project you abandoned last month, look at the blueprints, and find exactly where the math broke.
You now have the Strategy.
But even the best systems fail if your focus is affected.
Without a defense, the average person is mathematically on track to lose 9 waking years of their life staring at a device.
We built the exact blueprint to break that loop and reclaim your elite productivity.
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Great post. I was wondering how you managed to add the recommendation button at the bottom of your post because I can’t seem to find it. Thanks.
Failure to plan is planning to fail.