5 tips for successful failing

April 21, 2009 03:00 AM Email| Comments (4)| Text size – +

Advice from Abigail Lipson, of Harvard’s Bureau of Study Counsel:

-- Feel bad. If you feel bad about failing … good! Strong feelings – even feelings of shame or regret or emotional pain – serve a very important purpose. They make us stop and pay attention. They push us to resolve or correct the situation in which we find ourselves.

-- Learn to see the signs. There are almost always signs that appear in advance of any significant failure. … Maybe assistance or alternatives were offered to you, but you turned them down out of pride or shame. Next time around, when you see these signs again, you’ll recognize what direction they are pointing.

--Admit the truth. Many a failure is brought about or made worse by not admitting the truth, and many a failure can be put squarely on the path to resilience and resolution by admitting it.

-- Articulate what you’ve learned. Spell it out. Write it up. Post a blog. Write it on your bulletin board. Make a T-shirt.

-- Fail again. The best way to do justice to the pain of failing is by learning from it, growing from it, and mining it as a rich source of new wisdom and confidence.

» Back to Front Page

4 comments so far...

If you made a mistake in voting just admit it . Look at the good side. The hard times that you go through build character. Learn from your mistakes.

Posted by telitlikeitis April 21, 09 04:48 AM

How prophetic. I no longer wonder why newspapers are failing and declaring bankruptcy across the nation. Perhaps the troubled entities should refer to item # 2, then follow items # 1 and 4. Failure to follow the advice written in this article will certainly prevent item #5 from being an option.

Posted by Abby Winters April 21, 09 06:38 AM

???????

Posted by Stacie H. April 21, 09 07:24 AM

After all these years of being told that religions were wrong to tell people they should feel shame and guilt; those are bad old-fashioned non-productive feelings that cause more damage, and now it's a revelation? "Admit the truth" Why didn't someone think of that before? Feeling bad pushes us to do better.
Someone should tell that to the schools who won't keep a kid back a year. Common sense told us that continuously despite the pop pshychologists of the last 50 years.

Posted by MrChuck April 21, 09 07:42 AM