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Fail Forward

I’ve always had the belief that so-called failures are honest learning moments. That we should use those lessons to propel ourselves forward.  I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself to learn new things, which often means I’m terrible to start with.  Recently I’ve been doing mini-triathlons with my boys, which required me to learn to conquer a Pogo stick.  It’s an understatement to say that it did not come naturally. BUT, it was a great opportunity to show them that even though I was bad, I kept going and got better every day.  I did rule the jump rope portion which provided a bit of motivation lol!  

I’ve had a multitude of learning failures in my professional career. I like that about me, however, because I feel it gives some authenticity to how I coach others to be their best. My Friday team huddle meetings were called “Fail Forward Friday’s” where we would share “failures” big or small that we learned from our professional or personal lives  It was a great platform for team building but also brought up several processes, tools or procedures that needed fixing. 

In addition to her entrepreneurial success, Sara Blakely has been an inspiration to me on how she lives her life.  She often talks about how her father formed her perspective of failure. A simple but powerful quote is:

“Failure is not the outcome – failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail.” – Sara Blakely

Parenting brings a whole bag full of failures. I’ve often said the only job I truly felt that I failed at was motherhood. It’s so HARD! My youngest son really struggles when he’s not immediately good at something.  I’ve had to work very diligently with him on how important it is to keep trying and to celebrate when you make even small improvements.  He recently got a new Mario game for his birthday, had fun playing it all day and then threw a huge fit when he lost something important and declared he would never play it again!  After he calmed down I asked him if he’d had fun playing the game for the past few hours.  Of course he had.  And I asked if he learned anything from the mistake he made.  Yes, he had.  And I asked him if he thinks it would be fun to play the game with his friends.  Again, yes.  That led into a really good discussion on how we shouldn’t let our frustrations and anger keep us from doing something that we enjoy.  To give up easily frequently means to lose out on something that could be great!

Our life’s direction is guided by these seeming failures and the decisions we make in those moments.  These are our turning points whether it be a drastic, hairpin turn or a gradual curve.  They are what force major decisions and small adjustments.  Sometimes we are stubborn and keep plowing down the same bad path thinking we can just work harder.  Sometimes we have a moment of clarity and growth. Sometimes we look back at the path we have traveled and are amazed at what we have accomplished!

Lately I’ve found myself saying that life sometimes points you in a direction you wouldn’t choose but need to go in.  Occasionally something out of your control happens to change your course.  Maybe it seems overwhelming at first, but when you catch your breath and really look at it, you can see an abundance of positives.  In these uncertain times, I challenge you to examine your recent “failures”, find the new growth and nourish it into something beautiful!

Failures, repeated failures, are the finger posts on the road to achievement.  One fails forward toward success.  – C.S. Lewis

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