Hamden and a team of researchers spent 10 years building the FIREBall Telescope, a telescope designed to hang from a giant balloon at an altitude of 130,000 feet in the stratosphere to observe clouds of hydrogen gas, which they finally set up on September 22, 2018. However, there was a problem.
It turned out that the balloon was punctured, and it fell in the New Mexico desert. In one painful moment, the team saw all their work and the data they had hoped to collect crumble, but Hamden has since found there are things you can do to get ahead, let go, and rebuild your confidence.
We know very well that failure can happen to anyone, not just the people who make space telescopes. Some of them may fail to make a presentation, for example, or to start a new company, or their shops may collapse, and writers may be banned sometimes. Failure can be a crisis that often prevents you from trying again.
But Hamden suggests taking advantage of the scientific method, which considers failure an important and necessary step towards progress. “The general premise of science is to prove your hypothesis wrong, and the discovery itself is mostly a process of finding things that fail, so failure is inevitable when you're pushing the boundaries of knowledge."
Tips to help you get back on your feet after failure
Here are Hamden's tips for bouncing back from failure, whether you work in space or from a home office:
1. Use your to-do list to boost your confidence
To build the confidence that drives you toward big goals, first focus on the small ones, starting with the simple actions you take each day. After Hamden makes her daily to-do list, she looks at it and asks herself, "What's the one thing I don't want to do?" Which of these tasks do I do?
Often, she finds that deep down she is unsure of how to do a task or afraid of failing at it, as she explains: “Confidence is built when you try something new that's a bit scary, it works, and then you do it over and over again;
So all you have to do is start this process of being brave.” Usually, your hesitation or fear is a sign that you care.
When you notice that you are avoiding something, ask yourself what you are afraid of and think about what will happen if you fail. It is true that you will be disappointed if things go wrong, but what will the actual loss be?
“I used to do this all the time when I was a student during exams; I sent messages to myself that no matter what happened, I would survive in the end and face the lot of negative thoughts we usually have," Hamden says.
2. Separate your value from your work
One of your quick reactions to failure is to relate that failure to your overall value and to think that if no one is buying your offer, product, or idea, then you must not be good enough.
But this thinking, in addition to making you feel bad, makes you miss out on some valuable notes that can help you progress. So, Hamden says, "I think the whole point of doing something is to be able to ask the question after you've finished it: 'What did you learn from it?' You learn more when things don't go right."
In the disappointing weeks following the failed launch of the FIREBall telescope, Hamden took time off, taking care not to think about feelings and not to turn her defeat into self-doubt.
She says, “You are valuable because you exist, and I think it is really important to avoid feelings of guilt or shame. Feeling guilty about something is a way of making sure you never do it again.” Remember that your work is just something you do, even though it is an important part of your life. It does not reflect your personal value.
3. Develop and build a group to share support
According to writers and friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, co-authors of Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close, the concept of "shine theory" they developed is:
“a long-term investment in helping someone be the best they can be and counting on their help in return to do the same." The theory of brilliance can apply to all of your relationships, not just your personal friendships.
The more you shine, the more everyone around you shines, and while it can sometimes feel weird to share your accomplishments for fear of coming across as a braggart, the Shine Theory is about a penchant for the idea of mutual abundance and how another person's success does not take away your success; It actually pushes you forward.
Building your own support group can also help you navigate moments of self-doubt or failure, and Hamden advocates open conversations in which she explains what you need to find these relationships.
She says, “When you have a friendship that allows you to talk about your sadness when you need it or your joy when you want to celebrate it, your failures and successes don’t start and end with you. You can try to convince yourself every day that you are valuable, but if the people around you don't value you, it will be hard for you to believe it."
And if you find yourself interacting with people who make you feel uncomfortable with yourself, you should avoid them in the future, says Hamden.
4. Remember that no one cares about your failures as much as you do
Everyone is the hero of their own story, beautiful or ugly, Hamden says, so people don't pay as close attention as you think to your personal failings. However, you may be in a professional environment where others scrutinize your performance. So you can learn from their responses.
For example, if you make a mistake and your co-worker uses the opportunity to frustrate you further, unfortunately, you will know that this environment may not be a healthy one for you. "The way people interact tells you a lot about them and helps you discover the world you're in." Hamden says.
5. Watch for fatigue
As you work on your challenging project, It is important to set strict limits and restrictions on the time you spend on it. That's because the longer you're on the project, the more confident you'll be, Hamden says. "Regular time away is really essential," says Hamden.
Stressful projects such as races are often filled with many deadlines and intense tasks in pursuit of a larger goal. So take the time to celebrate those races after they're done, says Hamden.
6. Believe in the possibility of success in the future
The level of effort you put into something can relate to how you feel about its failure. The bigger and more important it is, the more disappointed you will feel when it fails. When you detach yourself from failure, you'll be surprised at how resilient you are.
“I'm past that project and that mission, and I can get past any problem,” Hamden said, more than two years after the launch of the FIREBall telescope.
Now she and her colleagues are preparing for its next launch in 2021, and no matter what happens, she says, “the universe will still be there.” Sometimes getting over past failures is as simple as looking for something new and believing something good can happen.
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