Reversing the failure spiral : Take your head out of the game.

In our last column, we talked about the problems people have when they're in the "failure spiral". It's a tricky place - when you're doing badly, you start to think about why you're doing badly, you cover up (even further signaling your emotional state), leading to doing worse... etc.

And in our last paragraph, I talked about how important it is to take a step back, when you're in this state. And taking a break is usually a very good idea.

When you've settled down a little bit, and you're feeling better about yourself... it's time to start over.

When you're in the "failure spiral", you make a lot of changes... and almost all of them make you look worse.

So... it's time to start over.

My advice is designed for people who are starting "at the bottom". Start with your profile, and follow my communication advice like you're a social robot. For now.

Follow my instructions to the letter. Don't try adding anything. Because, when you're in a failure spiral, anything you add will probably be wrong.

You won't do fantastically well with the "social robot" approach. But you'll do a lot better than you did before.

And once you start to succeed, you'll have a basis for understanding when your changes are succeeding, and when they're not.

One final bit of advice for people in the spiral tomorrow...