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The Importance of Having a Mission, Correctly Using Failure, and Leaving the Ego Behind
An essay on a different way to think about both hard work and failure.
A few nights ago, I read my 5 year-old daughter a book about Amelia Earhart, which featured the following quote:
I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”
The first thing about this quote that jumped out to me, of course, was the brave and defiant attitude. Amelia Earhart was simply going to do what she set out to — chivalry and conventions be damned. Earhart was a big personality, and she gained the admiration of millions by doing something that other women didn’t dare do.
That’s the simple reading of her quote. But there’s something more at work here. It’s something that actually runs counter to Earhart’s big personality and the popularity she gained as a result of her bold moves. Particularly, that last sentence — about your failure being a challenge to others. That’s particularly interesting because it’s not a take on hard work and failure that I’ve heard before — or really, since.
Essentially, Earhart is laying out a formula for a really fulfilling way of life, and…
