Failure. It's how we learn.

So many things that we have learned to do started with failed attempts. Here are some of mine. 

I'm hyperfocused on the fact that often we need to fail in order to succeed,  because we learn by doing. This is sometimes called failing forward. So many things that we have learned to do started with failed attempts. Here are some of mine.

Failed:

• Walking
• Talking
• Smiling
• Using a spoon
• Drawing a picture

And failed: 

• Riding a bike
• Swimming - in particular tumbleturns
• Scoring a goal
• Passing a subject
• Writing

As well as failing:

• Making friends
• Playing piano
• Getting asked out by the boy I liked
• Getting into the course I wanted
• Learning a different language

 Then failed:

• Uni exams
• Cooking
• Typing with more than 2 fingers
• Dancing
• Learning to drive

After which I  failed:

• Parenting
• Dressing with style
• Gardening
• Sewing
• Throwing the perfect party

And am currently failing (but working on):

• Meditating
• Managing time
• Getting to the gym
• Persisting!!

This is evidence that in so many cases, failure leads to success. And when it doesn't that's OK too.

Epilogue – how did I go following the above fails?

• Walking – I'm good at walking now; apparently I'm an A to B walker (which I interpret as speedy)
• Talking – You already know that I am a good talker!
• Smiling – Mastered, tick 🙂
• Using a spoon – Succeeded and upgraded to knife and fork
• Drawing a picture – Learnt to draw a crayon picture of a house, but my progress stopped there
• Riding a bike – Still riding bikes to this day
• Swimming – Love swimming and was on the swimming team at school, but never really got tumbleturns
• Scoring a goal – I did eventually shoot the odd netball goal, but it was odd when I did!
• Passing a subject – I was good at achool and passed most exams but not all of them
• Writing – Used to love using my sentence-maker, and still love making sentences and writing today
• Making friends – It's actually taken me decades to learn how to make friends, but I think I have finally got this!
• Playing piano – I succeeded playing Chopstix and levelled out somewhere between there and Chopin
• Getting asked out by the boy I liked - What can I say? The last boy I liked asked me out and we've been together for 13 years.
• Getting into the course I wanted – I got into the course I applied for but didn't know what I wanted
• Learning a different language – No real progress there only schoolgirl French in my armamentarium ( but as you can see I know some big English words!)
• Uni exams – I had to repeat of year of med-school, but the great learning was that you don't often get a second chance: take it!
• Coooking – Well if you have read AK's failure journal you will know I am still struggling in this area, but haven't given up
• Typing fast on a keyboard – Actually, I didn't progress with this one. Well, I do sometimes type fast, but then I spend longer correcting the typso!!!
• Dancing – Well I still can't dance, but I've learned that actually no-one is watching
• Learning to drive – I consider myself an excellent driver, not withstanding my demerit points
• Parenting – I'm not a parent. But I hope I am a great additional grownup caring for the kids/teens/now adults that have enriched my life
• Dressing with style –I'm still pretty poor in this area. But when I wear clothes my mum gives me I manage a compliment or two!
• Gardening – My stance on gardening has been to partner up with someone who does gardening (and dare I say, he does it exceptionally!)
• Throwing the perfect party – Working on it. It helps that I have learned to make friends!
• Meditating – Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Getting the gist of it.
• Leading a team – An absolute work in progress that I think really marries with my wanting to help people and love of problem solving
• Managing time – My best time tip is to assume it will take me twice as long as I think
• Getting to the gym –  I'm not getting better at this, but I have a new strategy to leave a packed gym bag near the front door!
• Persisting!! I'm here. That's all you need to do: turn up.