PEBBLE
Failure is never part of the plan but it is always a part of the process. The sooner you are able to learn from your mistakes and move on, the sooner you will find success.
-Patrick Mulick, shared by Andy in Iowa
BOULDER
A good life is full of failure. Like the scraps we throw on the compost heap, our inadequacies and defeats are what give our human soil character. Without them we would be barren, with nothing to offer our surrounding ecosystem. A noble life is rich in failure embraced.
-Toko-Pa Turner, shared by Leslie in Madison, WI
PONDER
I mess up. A lot.
I forget stuff, I make errors, I do things the wrong way (often because I’m not following directions). In the midst of all this failure, I end up letting myself down and sometimes letting others down as well.
There are so many times and so many ways that I don’t “cross a finish line” on a project or situation in the way that I hoped to, and I have to remind myself over and over that EXPERIENCING failure is not the same thing as BEING a failure.
It helps me to remember that “not succeeding” at a thing is almost always part of the process of learning how to eventually succeed at the thing. Failure is an inevitable pitstop on the journey to success, and it has some useful upsides: it helps keep us humble, it helps us appreciate our wins, and it helps us expand our potential.
I’ve had some great wins this week, and also some setbacks that I’ve decided to rename Fruitful Failures. Here’s hoping that next week includes enough success to keep us happy and enough failure to help us grow.
Peace,
Paul
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