Failure in the workplace can take many shapes. The budget cycle ended, and your prized initiative was the only one on the chopping block. Or the client called and abruptly cancelled your agency’s long-term contract. Maybe the star employee you recruited into your company turned out to be less than stellar, and you participated in a string of HR discussions culminating in termination. In any of these cases and many more, you experienced a demoralizing, public failure.

First of all, congratulations! If every single one of your projects succeeded, it would mean you were coasting. Failing once in a while is a good sign. While failure can certainly come from inattention or poor decision-making, it often is associated with experimentation and innovation. No one seeks out the sting of a failure and its repercussions, but smart professionals embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve.

Read more about how to handle failure at work over at Quartz.