Why Success Often Starts With Failure

0

afraid to failEvery year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation holds a Fail Fest, where they celebrate a valuable lesson they learned while investing moneys into a loser organization that has absolutely bombed . According to this brilliant team, failure is chock full of wisdom—one of the most effective way to absorb key insights—so it’s best to sit down with that uncomfortable feeling for awhile and explore what went wrong.

I have always loved stories of failure–much more than tales of success.

Because nothing has ever come easily to me.

I am not the typical writer who sailed through English 101 and devoured “The Great Gatspy” as a teen. My eighth-grade English teacher did wonders for my self-confidence when she read aloud my paper to the class as an example of how NOT to write. My decoding skills were so horrific (as tested and reported by a psychologist that my mom sent me to when I was 17) that I relied on CliffsNotes to get through high school English. My SATs were so low that I would change the subject every time that topic came up for, oh, 20 years.

Continue reading …

Share this:

Therese Borchard
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.

More about me...


FOLLOW ME

SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER



Recent

February 23, 2024
Beloved
November 24, 2023
Everything Is Grace: Cultivating Gratitude From a Greater Altitude
June 11, 2023
Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You
May 20, 2023
Please Let Me Cry
February 16, 2023
Love Being Loving

1 Response
  1. Ammah

    Thank you once again. I love your honesty & I pray you heal. Heal you will. I just know this in my heart.

    ” Life is not about quick fix, it takes time to blossom.” I grew up hearing as a child. We were scolded & even slapped as kids, this could be by our parents or our relatives who loved us. We never felt this was ” abuse” as it is in the Western term. Our self esteem grew as we grew it was not based on false cheers it was based on honesty. Yes, people became depressed & mental illness. There were herbal remedies for this & often enough people did heal. You always had a family to turn to.

    We did not have the therapists planting theories in our minds. ” If you had a splinter in your skin it was best to remove it than let it infect you,” our elders use to say. We went to our mothers, grandmothers and extended family right away we did not run to Facebook or the Internet for help or texted for help. We went to our parents and grandparents. There was always some one to help us from the start. We did not lie to ourself or blame others. Family knew us better than any one else in the world. They knew how to heal our pain with out a gravy bowl attached accusing.