Commentary
What makes a great story? When you think of the best stories ever told, fictional or nonfictional, you see these characteristics:
- Character(s) change something about themselves during the story.
- They go through adversity or failure.
The best stories always come with struggle. Why, then, do we try to protect ourselves from failure? Why do we not share our stories? Every athlete and person has a story to tell and the best stories come from adversity and failure and what came from it. I challenge every person that reads this to look back at times of struggle and ask if you you didn’t come out better than before? Celebrate this and share your failure with others!
Dream Big,
Lesson
Why hide our flaws when we can highlight them to make us stand out?
KINTSUGI – A Japanese art form most commonly associated with ceramics that literally stands for golden “kin” and repair “tsugi”. It teaches that broken objects are not something to discard or hide, but rather to display with pride.
How we respond to our faults is the essence of resilience. We must learn from our negative experiences – a poorly played ball, a missed all-star opportunity, a low test score or a failed job interview – understand what worked and what didn’t and continue to fine-tune our game and appreciate that it is exactly these experiences and how we respond to them that defines who we are and makes us unique and precious.
Your Turn
Describe your MOST RECENT FAILURE.
What were the REPURCUSSIONS?
How did you LEARN AND GROW from the experience?
Final Thoughts
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”
~ ERNEST HEMINGWAY, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
