Failing at whatever it is you’re doing is nerve-wracking. At that point, you may think you are the one making all the mistakes every time, and perfectionists are the ones who suffer the most because of it.

Failing poses a threat to our power and confidence, and this, in turn, creates just more stress. Add hectic schedules and never-ending commitments, and you get a toxic brew of low self-esteem. But what if we learn to deal with breakdowns and failures?

Dede Henley, an author and leadership strategist, suggests applying productive reasoning when it comes to occupational and professional failures. The first step is to self-reflect about “what you are holding as the 'truth,' what you don’t know enough about, and what your part in the breakdown may be,” she explained in an opinion piece for Forbes.

Sharing it with your team workers in a way that means you take accountability for your actions is a productive way to go about it.

Secondly, Dede suggests allowing your team to “reflect on what they’re holding as the truth that you collectively don’t know about.” In this way, the “collective group can engage in double-loop learning,” which is likely to bring fruitful results and valuable lessons out of the failures.

And third, don’t forget to apply the newly learned knowledge. This, of course, doesn’t mean that your part of the job is over. On the contrary, the critical part in solving the work failure is owning your part in what happened and “reflecting critically on your performance.” “A big part of handling a failure better is not blaming others for it,” Dede concluded.