Failure does not mean I’m a failure;
It does mean I have not yet succeeded.
Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learned something.
Failure does not mean I have been a fool;
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.
Failure does not mean I have disgraced;
It does mean I have dared to try.
Failure does not mean I don’t have it;
It does mean I have something to do in a different way.
Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.
Failure does not mean I have wasted my life;
It does mean that I have an excuse to start over.
Failure does not mean that I should give up;
It does mean that I should try harder.
Failure does not mean that I will never make it;
It does mean that I need more practice.
Failure does not mean that You have abandoned me;
It does mean that You must have a better idea.
-Unknown
Failure is all in how we choose to look at it. We can look at roadblocks to our writing journeys as failures, or we can choose to look at them differently. It's up to us.
I choose to see the lesson and NOT the failure.
Which do you choose?
25 comments:
Oh, that should be posted in every classroom in the country! I need to read it to my five year old, who gets down on himself for the littlest things!
Thank you so much for this, Shannon.
Great post, Shannon. Definitely the lesson. I think I'll print this out and put it near my desk. Okey dokey, bff? :-)
Excellent post. Who hasn't failed before succeeding? Even babies fall 100+ times before walking. They don't give up! And neither should anyone else!
"Choose to see the lesson," I love that! Beautifully said. Every failure if handled that way is not a failure at all but a step in the right direction, toward success. Thanks for the inspiration!
WOW - powerful! I'm so glad I found your blog. I'm stopping by from the A to Z challenge and I look forward to reading more from you.
My husband likes to say that failures are always in the past. It is impossible to fail forward.
Wise, wise, wise! Especially that first stanza! And I love what Candice says!
Great reminder about so-called "failure." Good stuff. :)
Oh, that is just beautiful. Failure is a great lesson. I hope to always be a dedicated student of it. ;)
I love this, Shannon. It's so easy to forget what it really means to be successful. Not giving up.
Wow, that was really powerful. Thank you for sharing that. Because in this business, failure is a part of the game. We all have to fail our way to success. ;)
This is freeing! Thank you. I choose to see the lesson.
My Blog
I choose to see the lesson, too.
It always amazes me when Olympians get silver or bronze medals and think they've failed. Yo, I'd be thrilled to have it if you don't want it. And so would the athletes who didn't make it that far. ;)
Great post. I choose like you. It's so easy to forget this during the query/submission process.
Loved this. I'm going to share it with my students. To me failure is just a step on the road to my goal.
Shannon, I'm totally with you on this one, though it took me a few years to figure it out, and I sometimes still have to remind myself. I'm getting better every year, though, with each attempt more. Looking at things "big picture" is the key!
I love the last line. Failure strenghtens my hope muscle.
I'm with @Corey - let's get this in classrooms! (How cool to grow up knowing that failure is part of something amazing :))
Wow! What an awesome poem!!! It reminds us that every so called failure is just an opportunity to learn. If we have that attitude, we will eventually reach our goals.
Thanks for posting this, Shannon.
I really like that. It's all about learning. :-)
Wonderful post! I choose not to look at things as failures. Just many different ways of not doing something in the future.
I always figure one rejection is a step closer to finding the right house for my work. :)
Great post - another one for the bulletin board. I wish I could make my son understand this.
Ya great.. Hoping i would get better.. :) this post would develop my confidence in facing things..
Post a Comment