The New Year — a time when we often think about successes and achievements. Instead, I’ve been thinking about failure. Mine in particular.
Last year (like every year) I made a bunch of mistakes! It’s tempting to gloss over all the ways I effed up in 2018 by making the traditional New Year’s list of successes and achievements from the past year.
More and more, lately, I find myself tired of those lists, of reading people’s curated successes without the balance of their difficulties. Maybe you’re tired of those lists too? I thought it might be more fun to talk about my mistakes instead.
Perhaps I’m just selfish and/or too sensitive, but when I see others’ successes I most often think “I guess I don’t measure up.” However, when I read their failures — especially when they also reflect deeply about what they learned from their failures — I feel empowered. Isn’t that odd?
Anyway — because I’m also celebrating mistake-making in my upcoming free masterclass for educators (and parents!) — it seems fun to reflect today on my two biggest mistakes of 2018.
In this video I share:
- What I mean by “mistake”
- The two biggest mistakes I made in 2018
- What the horrific consequences were (one financial, the other health),
- What I learned from the experiences that will transform my future choices, and
- Why this kind of mistake-friendly reflecting is IMPERATIVE for teachers and parents to model for students.
Take a watch:
What mistakes did YOU make last year? What were the consequences? What did you learn? Hit reply and practice doing this kind of reflecting now. I’d love to know, and I promise I’ll reply.
The cost of college continues to skyrocket!
Too many students have poor grammar, and it weakens their writing. This has become increasingly obvious to Megan as she works with students on writing their college admissions essays.