Redefining Failure
During Assembly this week, I spoke to the Secondary school about failure. This may seem like a strange thing to talk about in assembly given that we normally celebrate success and achievement but bear with me. The message was off the back of a video I watched that featured Eileen Rossall who is a mindset coach.
In the video Eileen is talking about her father who used to encourage her to fail. At the dinner table her father would ask, ‘What did you fail at this week?’. And if she didn’t have something to tell him, he would be disappointed.
Eileen talks about coming home from school and telling her dad about trying out for things and being horrible at them. And he would respond with ‘Way to go’ and give her a high five.
Eileen didn’t realise it at the time but reflected on what a gift her father had given her. In taking this approach, her father was redefining failure for her - failure became not about the outcome, but about effort. Her dad taught her that the only failure is not trying.
There are some students who don’t give their best effort in class or at home but are still able to achieve good marks. Some may think that they these people are lucky. But I believe that in most endeavours effort always trumps ability in the long run. As Thomas Edison said: “Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.”
It is my hope that students finish school knowing that they have given their all – not just academically, but in terms of their involvement and contribution to the school more broadly, and in terms of meeting the expectations that are regularly discussed.
Failure is not trying your best.