Failure Isn’t Final by Ashley Collins

Enjoy this guest post by author Ashley Collins…

Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan and The Beatles all have something in common… they “failed” their way to success. They “failed forward.” They didn’t allow the negative opinions of others to stop them from pursuing their dreams. They were fired, ridiculed, criticized, laughed at…They all fell down, but what makes them successful, is they all got back up & kept going.

When writing Enjoy The Journey: Life Lessons That Rhyme, one of the lessons I wanted to teach children is that failure is not final. I don’t want my kids to be afraid to fail. Everyone makes mistakes and we can use those experiences as an opportunity to learn and grow.  I want my kids to be brave and bold enough to take a stand for what they believe in… to be fearless in the pursuit of what sets their souls on fire….To not hesitate to follow their dreams because they fear what others may think.

Failure is a part of success.

Together, let’s help our children stop this negative and twisted view of what failure is… and for that matter what “success” is…(but that’s a whole different topic). Success is not just being wealthy and famous! It’s not about being “widely-known,” but about being “well-known” by those you care about the most. Success is not about how many material things you can accumulate in this life… we can’t take any of that with us in the end. It’s about the lives, the souls, we touch. The eternal impact we make, long after we are gone. The relationships we build. The joy, peace and contentment we experience as we use the gifts that God has given us to do what He put us here on this Earth to do.

…but back to failure. As a mom, I know it’s hard to see your children fail, but it’s a part of their journey, so let’s encourage them to embrace it, learn from it and keep “failing forward.”

A quote from my book… “Failure isn’t final. What if they would have quit? When you fall down get right back up with tenacity and grit.”

A young visionary had a dream no one could comprehend. He could not find a soul to help, not even his own friend. For “lack of imagination” at his job he got fired. Walt went on to build the magical Disney Empire. (From “Enjoy the Journey.”)

What if Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan and The Beatles would have quit??? The world we live in today would be such a different place, wouldn’t it? The music, the movies, the entertainment, the technology, the theme parks we enjoy today would not exist. I believe that we all have been created on purpose and for a purpose…but we must not be so afraid to fail, that we never discover what that purpose is.

Make YOUR mark on the world.

No one else can.

***What are some ways that you teach your children it’s okay to make mistakes? (I would love to hear from you in the comments below.) Do you talk about what success and failure are with them? I think it’s important that we help guide our children in their definition of these words and give them proper perspective, or the world will do that for us.