I overheard a student say this yesterday:
“The things I get wrong are sometimes the only things I remember.”
This was such a brilliant observation.
We learn by failure, yet we rarely reward failure. We chase the “A.”
I used to be that type of student -chasing my A. To be honest, I still tend towards getting them. What I know for sure is this: the most I’ve ever learned has been from the things I did not do well – at first.
Think of a baby. The baby spends the first year consistently failing. Babies falls over, and then, they try again. They seek stability, then attempt to move on the stable platform. Babies fail – and they fail – and they fail. And it never stops them.
The baby’s sole focus is on movement, and that baby will fail until he gets it. Look at eating, drinking, breathing, crawling, walking: all are movement.
Babies don’t cry in the corner because they can’t crawl or walk yet. They fail, and fail, and fail – until they don’t.
Wait – failure leads to success? YES.
I’ve seen strong students coast through school and fail to deliver as a clinician. I’ve also seen students who struggled learn to embrace failure, in order to be successful students and clinicians.
In the end, not one person has asked about my As in my office or in any classroom. My patients and students want to know if I can help them be successful. They want what I’ve learned from failure.
You’re not awesome out of the gate at a skill? GOOD. You now have the opportunity to fail. Embrace it. Failure is the path to true success.
And in case you missed it yesterday, watch and listen to the words of the gigantic failure named Michael Jordan, one of the most successful athletes in history.
He failed. I’ve failed. Maybe you can try failing to be successful.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley