Chapter F: Successfully React to Failure

Failure is not good or bad. How you react to it makes your failure a good or bad thing.

Since failure is part of life, one of life's most important lessons is learning how to successfully react to failure, and one of the most important things we can teach our students how to do in school.

If you fail to learn and grow from what caused you to fail, you are doomed to repeat it. This is probably why so many of us stop trying.

We lose faith and belief in ourselves and begin to reduce the size of our dreams to match.

Easier and smaller dreams are easier to accomplish. This is like putting the least weight on the bar to workout with. Sure you can lift it, but it doesn't allow you to become any stronger or healthier.

Instead of focusing on where others are better than us, and using what's good about them as role models, we focus on what's wrong with them in order to make us feel better about ourselves.

What if we judge Tiger Woods when we are Tiger Woods? In the meantime we can focus on the part of his life where he has shown greater strength and commitment, such as developing his athletic skills and mental concentration.

Instead of focusing our thoughts on the part of his life we don't approve of, we pay attention to what we do approve of and admire.

Then after we reach our own perfection we can gather all the stones we want to throw at all the imperfect souls around us......just look in the mirror first....and as we see our own imperfections to work on, and refuse to justify or accept this is just how we are......we react successfully to these failures by not throwing stones at ourselves, but throwing all the love, belief, courage and intelligence we can muster.

Over and over, again and again......because we know we are worth it.

We are the greatest project we will ever have in our entire lives.


“I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong” ~ Benjamin Franklin quotes (American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Printer, Writer and Inventor. 1706-1790)

“Success builds character, failure reveals it”  Dave Checkett quotes

 “There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.” Tom Krause quotes ( motivational speaker, Teacher and Coach, b.1934)

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

 Colin Powell quotes (Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93). At present, US Secretary of State, 1937)

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”~ Sven Goran Eriksson quotes

“A man may fall many times, but he won't be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.”

 Elmer G. Letterman quotes

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.”

 Andre Malraux quotes (French Historian, Novelist and Statesman, 1901-1976)

“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.”

 Chinese Proverbs quotes

And finally, my BIG dream that school is a place where EVERYONE'S courage and confidence are developed to such an extent that seeking and learning from failure is so prized one would pay for it:

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.”

 Walter Brunell quotes

This song used to make tears stream down my face. It was after my second divorce and I felt like an utter failure as a husband, father and as a man. During the female vocals I would see my little sister's face, who refused to believe I was a failure, and threw all of her love my way to help me get back up and believe in myself again.

Socrates said, "The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing".

The only two things I know for sure is that love is the most powerful and precious thing in the world to learn how to have for yourself and others......and that TEMPORARY failure is the road that takes you there.