Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo. Bruises happen in life…you bump against an immovable object and there is a physiological reaction. Bruises heal…they don’t last forever.
Tattoos, now…they are a different matter. I don’t personally have one, but know several people including a couple of our children who have them. Sometimes they are artful, often they have a story, but they are not temporary. They will last a lifetime and will not improve with age.
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanks, relates that her parents would ask Sara and her siblings a question every week. “What did you fail at this week?” This question opened up conversations in their home about what they had tried, how they had failed and what they had learned.
In our society, we work very hard to keep our children from “losing” or “failing” in sports, academics, etc. We give participation trophies even when, down deep, we know it means nothing.
What are we losing in the process? And how often are we discouraging budding entrepreneurs instead of encouraging them to try, fail, learn, try again?
I have failed much more often than I have succeeded in this life…I have learned through those failures that I can get up, gather myself and try again. That particular set of skills has come in very handy as an entrepreneur and has given me a foundation from which to mentor other entrepreneurs.
