Russell says he has adopted such an approach after changing his mindset this year from playing "the long game" and collecting points to going all out for the big results.
In Singapore, Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton pitted for new tyres under a late safety car in an effort to have the firepower with which to attack race leader Carlos Sainz.
But Russell was still behind Lando Norris in third when he crashed out of the race on the final lap, leaving Hamilton to pick up the position.
"It's not the first time I've had a difficult situation like that," he said.
"I think through everybody's career you have ups and you have downs, and I'm very thankful for having some difficult situations to bounce back from in the past because I think it helps me deal with these situations better.
"Probably 24 to 36 hours it sort of takes to get over it, and you've always got to take the positives from a moment like that."
Russell said any mistakes he makes have resulted from trying hard.
"I think there's definitely a reason for all of them," he said. "And that's just pushing to the limit, and potentially on both occasions pushing over the limit, trying to extract more than what's possible.
"I think when I look at my championship winning years in junior formulae, go-karting, F4, GP3, F2, I was very much the [kind of] driver of just keep on getting results.
"If you've got to compromise one position, it's the long game, just keep on getting those results. And that was very much my mentality last year as well, just keep on getting those results. And it paid off well.
"Whereas I think this year we're definitely rolling the dice a bit more, and really going for those big results.
"You saw it [in Singapore], Zandvoort we obviously got it wrong, but it was another reason I'm definitely pushing myself above and beyond. You're going up against the best drivers in the world, and you're testing yourself."
Russell made it clear that Mercedes has been very supportive, with trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin telling him that his feisty drive in Singapore had been a boost for the team.
He explained: "Shov called me Sunday evening and said 'The only reason we were in that position to fight for a win was because of how incredibly you'd driven the whole weekend, the qualifying performance you did, the pace you showed in the race.
"'You gave us that feeling of what it's like to fight for victory again, so take that away from the weekend, and not the ending.'
"I take the positives, really pleased with the overall performance. I'm not going to let a mistake of two centimetres cloud my whole weekend, and I'd prefer to have a weekend like that rather than being off the pace and coming into a fortunate result."
