Tag Archives: Failure

Steve Jobs on Life, Death, and Happiness

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Steve Jobs passed on.  His impact on how we live and how we teach has been huge, but how he lived his life, and faced his own death may be his greatest legacy.  In his 2005 Commencement address at Standford, he said:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

The whole speech is worth reading.  I hope my students will read it, and apply the lessons that this college drop-out learned through his successes and more importantly, his failures.

Safe home Steve Jobs.

Text of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005).

Helping Your Child Learn from Mistakes

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We all make mistakes in life.  That’s where the real learning is.  When we have a “safe place” to fail and learn from our failures, we not only learn better, we develop resiliency that takes us through the difficult times in life.  Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Ph.D., penned an blog post for Psychology Today where she give great advice on helping foster this kind of learning.

Ten Parenting Guidelines that Help Kids Learn from Mistakes

  • Acknowledge that you don’t expect your children to be perfect.
  • Let them know your love is unconditional, regardless of their mistakes or lapses in judgment.
  • Don’t rescue children from their mistakes. Instead, help them focus on the solution.
  • Provide examples of your own mistakes, the consequences, and how you learned from them.
  • Encourage them to take responsibility for their mistakes and not blame others.
  • Avoid pointing out their past mistakes. Instead, focus on the one at hand.
  • Praise them for their ability to admit their mistakes.
  • Praise them for their efforts and courage to overcome setbacks.
  • Mentor them on how to apologize when their mistakes have hurt others.
  • Help them look at the good side of getting things wrong!

Mistakes Improve Children’s Learning | Psychology Today.