Failure is an Option

“All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Samuel Beckett's quote from Worstward Ho could be the rallying call for a new initiative from educators around the world, who want to teach youngsters how to bounce back after failure.

For the fear of failure is often far worse than the reality, so much so, that many young people do not even attempt to go for opportunities perceived to be ‘too difficult’, as they feel unable to face the consequences.

In an interesting article in Education Week, Angel B. Pérez vice president and dean of admission at Pitzer College, in Claremont, California is quoted "Failure is about growth, learning, overcoming, and moving on."

He would like to see the real person behind the air brushed application form, and yearns for young people to be honest and brave about their fears, for he believes these students will be more likely to excel in a demanding and competitive college environment.

The UK is currently witnessing similar initiatives to combat this crippling fear of failure, they hope to demonstrate that not trying is an inhibitor to progress, but having the character to cope with disappointment and overcome that setback is the activator of success.

This is being trialled by Wimbledon High School, a top girls school, who are promoting ‘failure week’ which plans for pupils to embrace risk, build resilience and learn from their mistakes.

I welcome these initiatives wholeheatedly, providing they do not become a 'flirting with failure exercise' merely teaching individuals how to project a sense of composure, as a shallow pretence for the purpose of keeping up appearances. 

The wider lesson to be learnt from them, should be that learning how we cope with failure is an essential life skill. Because we all fail from time to time, so to find and then draw on our inner strength, and then dust ourselves off and carry on is an invaluable life skill to learn.

We get a lot of young men and women enquire about our courses after being unsuccessfull applying for jobs in the VFX or Animation industry. Those are the people who have understood that they failures can be overcome if they set about getting the skills they need to succeed. They are perfect examples of how you can learn lessons from your failures to ensure you get to your end goal.

As Alfred Pennyworth said to Bruce in Batman Begins: "And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up".