Wednesday Buzz: Embrace Your Failures

Failure stinks. Clearly, nobody likes it.

But it’s better to deal with a failure right away than to bottle it up and let it linger. That’s the take of LifeHacker contributor Patrick Allan  (opens in a new tab), who offers up a series of tips on how to handle it.

“Failure is the most important step to reaching success, but it can still feel like it’s crushing your soul,” Allan writes. “To make failure your friend and not your enemy, you must overcome it.”

His tips involve setting aside time to cope with it, talking about it with others, and finding ways to realize failure doesn’t define you—rather, it just happens, including to people around you.

“Your friends and family fail too,” he continues. “Think about the failures they have encountered, and remember that you’re not alone. It’s not to point and laugh, but to show yourself that failure is okay. You’re human, just like everybody else.”

Do you have advice to share about embracing failure?

Flexible Across the Pond

As of today, every employee in the UK can ask to work flexibly if they have been in the job for more than 6 months http://t.co/MVSKa7zJV9  (opens in a new tab)

— CMSWire.com (@cmswire) June 30, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

While openness to flex time varies among  U.S. employers, those in the United Kingdom are now required by law to consider employee flex time requests, CMSWire reports  (opens in a new tab).

“From 30 June 2014, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working—not just parents and [caregivers],” the British government’s Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills says on its website  (opens in a new tab). The only requirement? That the applicant has been on that job for at least six months. Employers may refuse the flex time request after considering it.

CMSWire‘s Noreen Seebacher says the requirement is a big deal and could  change British work culture considerably. But that doesn’t necessarily mean flex time is right for everyone.

“Of course, as we’ve explained before, telecommuting isn’t the fantasy some people dream about,” she writes. “It’s a disaster for anyone who is unmotivated, disorganized, thin-skinned, or has fantasies about working in pajamas.” (ht @cmswire  (opens in a new tab))

Other good reads

Did an association violate its ethical standards by taking part in a Facebook-related experiment? Strategic Communications Group’s Maggie McGary lays out the case  (opens in a new tab).

Tongue firmly in cheek, MarketingProfs writer Karol Król offers some advice on how to become the worst email marketer ever  (opens in a new tab).

Over at Event Garde’s blog, Aaron Wolowiec speaks to the importance of a strong brand voice for events  (opens in a new tab).

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