Failure

Written by Shelly Mowinkel

Michael Jordan talked about it, “I can accept failure…I can’t accept not trying.” 

Len Schlesinger, at the Global Leadership Summit said, “Failure doesn’t mean the game is over, it means try again with experience.”

Failure. At some point in our lives, I believe we all have been afraid to fail. Sometimes, I believe we even set our expectations lower for the fear of failing. And even sometimes, we tell ourselves we are too busy, not enough time, or even don’t have enough resources as a way to avoid failure.  As a mom, I have a love-hate relationship with the word failure. 

I hate the word because many times the perception is that failure is the opposite of success.  I love the word, because there is an abundant amount of learning that takes place when we fail. 

How do we teach our students to understand failing is all right? How do we teach them to understand being faced with adversity is all right? How do we teach our students perfection on EVERYTHING is not attainable? 

My “unresearched” answer…wait for it…because it is good. We model failure. We discuss failure. We provide safe opportunities to practice failure. We even encourage failure. Wait…did I just say, encourage failure? Yes. And I am not saying failure should be encouraged all the time, but we can provide a safe classroom environment to practice failure. 

This past month I have been creating, creating, and creating more and the constant theme is FAILURE.  This is not a word we should be afraid of or even loathe. Creativity is hard, creativity takes time. However, if I did not mindfully and purposefully try new things, I would not be pushed beyond my comfort zones. 

I believe accepting failure is one of those important skills we need to provide our students. Our classrooms provide a safe place to try something new, fail, try another approach, and then fail again. Through these opportunities, students’ curiosity is enhanced, and problem-solving and critical thinking skills are developed. 

I encourage you to embrace failure in the new year. Take up a hobby, practice creativity, and encourage your students to learn in different ways. Take to heart, what Henry Ford once said, “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”