Happy New Year! I wish you failure...

I'm sure this is not the new year's greeting you were expecting to hear. Before you decide that I am the most negative person in the world, let me clarify. It's the time of year for resolutions - commitments we make to achieve goals we feel will make us better people in some way. There's a common sentiment, mixed with a hint of reality, that most resolutions are forgotten in less than two months. As a result, many people have given up on even making resolutions. Why start something you know you'll never finish, right?

I've been thinking about resolutions and the relationship people have with failure, especially when thinking about education.  We all experience it in our lives at some point, but we don't all respond to failure in the same way. When we experience failure, we tell ourselves stories about what our failures mean, which has a tremendous impact on our next steps.  For instance, when I was in high school, I took an AP calculus course and really struggled.  The first time I got a bad grade, the story I told myself was that I wasn't meant for higher-level math. Never mind that I had tested into the course and had done well in all my other math courses. I just assumed that all the students who were doing well were more gifted than I was and didn't have to struggle. Because I was struggling, I assumed I had reached the end of the line with my math strengths.  As a result, I didn't apply myself and was content with doing just enough to not fail. This also meant that I would not receive college credit for the course.  Although I had initially been excited to have tested into the course, I quickly became content with my new lot in life.

My research on the habits of successful people in a variety of fields has shown me that some of the most successful people process failure in a manner that is quite different from how I processed my struggles in my high-school math class.  They don't assume the worst when they fail; rather, they seem to use their failures to propel themselves forward.  For instance, Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school varsity team when he first tried out.  Thomas Edison failed at least 1,000 times when trying to invent the light bulb.  Shonda Rhimes’ first screenplay never got made into a film.  Astronaut Mae Jemison was once told by a teacher to pursue nursing instead of becoming a scientist. I can imagine the stories they must have told themselves... "I know
these people don't think I can do this and probably think I am crazy for trying, but I want this and will do everything in my power to get it, even if it means I have to work harder and keep failing.  I just know I can do it." As they discovered later when they had become the best in their fields, their failures were a necessary part of their success because they helped these individuals identify their weaknesses and find strategies for overcoming them.

Every time our children meet with failure in the classroom, they tell themselves all kinds of stories about why they failed, and what they believe shows up in how they approach school.  They come into school wanting to do well, but they have this idea that being a good student means never having to struggle or work hard to learn.  I believe there are many bright scholars who never realize their fullest potential because of how they process their experiences with struggle and failure.  I am a witness that the stories we tell ourselves when we struggle are often not in alignment with what we can achieve. Once I got over the fantasy of being so smart that I didn't have to fail or work extra hard in my classes, I went on to get an A in college Calculus I and II, as well as a graduate course in statistics. I never would have guessed in a million years I could do that when I was back in my high-school AP Calculus class.

Do you have students in your life who have experienced failure in school? How can you intervene in their lives to help them reframe their thinking about failure?  How can you model this thinking in your own life?  Have you told yourself stories about failure that are limiting your progress? How can your own stories about success after failure serve as positive examples of what is possible?

So I am back where I started. Happy New Year! I wish for you the ability to turn your failures into success this year, and I hope that you will use your success stories to inspire the students in your village!