Failing Vs. Quitting

Let’s be honest, we don’t typically enjoy failing. We are people, we want everything to be sunshine and rainbows...all the time.

The reality is failing is awesome! Yes, you read that correctly, failing is a good thing.

Huh?

Um...what?

Yeah, I know we were all taught growing up that failing was a bad thing. You did not want to fail. We had that ground into our head so hard that it became part of who we are as adults.

The result?

We might be so afraid to fail that we never try anything new. We always go the safe route. We don’t like getting out of our comfort zone.

BUT

We want our kids to try new things and get out of their comfort zone.

Hmmm…

So, failing and quitting are basically the same thing, right?

Not at all!

Think about it.

If you quit something, you usually just give up.

In the dictionary, “quit” is defined as, “leave, usually permanently”.

Wow...powerful stuff!

To permanently be done with something has such a closed minded feel to it.

To quit takes little to no effort. It IS giving up.

Ok, how is that different from failing?

For me, failing has a process to it.

Step 1: You try something

Step 2: You make a mistake

Step 3: You learn from the mistake

Step 4: You move on to the next challenge

That looks a WHOLE lot different than permanently being done with something.

Do you see the difference?

On one side you have quitting (not trying or giving up) and on the other, you have failing (making a mistake, learning from it and getting better).

HUGE DIFFERENCE!

I talk to the kids in my class about the difference between failing and quitting all the time.

To fail means you tried.

To quit means you were too afraid to give it a try.

We MUST encourage our kids to be willing to fail and learn from mistakes. That will allow them the freedom to take risks, embrace change and challenge and be the best they can be!

Google employees talk about taking “moon shots”. A moon shot is setting a goal for something as big as landing on the moon.

That’s what we want for our kids!

Our kids need to know it’s ok to make mistakes because that’s the biggest chance to grow.

We all know that if you try to shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!

We just need to try and be ok when we don’t get something the first time. That’s how we learn and how we grow!