Failure Can Be Glorious and Create True Leaders

Failure can be Glorious and Create True Leaders

I just read, “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch, once a professor, before his untimely death at Carnegie Mellon.  I was beyond curious to read what a Computer Science Professor would write down as his final words.  Would they have wisdom along the lines of the Power of Now, The Four Agreements,  Zero Limits and other titles that are written by authors that dedicate their lives to self awareness and human development?   I never put the book down once I started reading.  It was so authentic, so real, so moving.  I know that he was about my age, and leaving 3 children and a dedicated wife in this world, but that wasn’t what moved me to tears.  It was the section on failure.  He would award his students an award for taking the biggest risk as a team and having the greatest failure as a result, he called it “The First Penguin Award.”   He wanted them to value glorious failure and redefine failure as a stepping stone towards greatness.  I just thought in that moment that my life would have reached greater heights so much earlier if I had been fortunate enough to have him as a teacher or professor.  That application of failure as an experience needed in life struck me as true wisdom, not because of the concept alone, but how he applied it to his students.  He glorified the failure to show them how important it was to have the experience of it to move on and have success in the future.  The title of Penguin came from the idea that there was always a first penguin to jump into the cold icy water that would potentially have predators.  But, it was that first jump of that first Penguin that allowed others to take the risk and help the species survive through the ages.  Without that instinct to risk being eaten alive, they would all safely stay on land but the species would fail and die in one generation.  So, at that moment I remembered how I felt when I failed Genetics as an undergrad at UCSB.   I felt I was no longer fit to continue as a biologist, and that it was something I could not share with my parents or anyone because I had never failed a class in my entire life.  I was quite the perfectionist when it came to my grades and that was a blow to my entire identity, I had also secretly turned down UC Berkeley, and at that moment began to question my judgment of that and so many other decisions.   I needed Randy Pausch, or someone like him at that moment.  I was doing well otherwise as Biology major at UCSB,  but imagining virtual DNA mutations 7 steps ahead of the map without knowing an outcome was not an exercise I was accustomed to, and my professor was not very forgiving.  So, I went to a lagoon near the Ocean, cried my eyes out for hours.  Then, magically felt reconnected to my source again because I was surrounded by nature.  Fortunately for me, I realized it was nature I loved , not just the study of it, and I made a decision that day to switch my major to Environmental Studies, a path that has served me well and has aligned me with some  amazing opportunities.  So, for the young people out there, don’t be afraid to fail, fail while you are young  as many times as possible!  Just don’t lose the opportunity to reflect on that failure to understand how to make the changes to succeed in the future.  All of us at any age can use this wonderful redefinition of failure.  But I think the catch is, it’s good to fail as long as you’re are trying your best, and doing something for the greater good, not just selfishly.  This type of  failure will re-incarnate one day as the success you had originally envisioned or better,  just don’t give up!  Thanks Professor Pausch, you are still teaching so many of us with your “Last Lecture.”

The good news is that you’re not alone in this journey of failure to success.  I’m here to help you find your way and make the right decisions that will change your life and, ultimately, the world around you.

Please contact me if you have any questions as you travel down the path of reflection.

 www.theinspiredplanet.com or marta@theinspiredplanet.com or http://twitter.com/inspiredplanet.com

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