i‑Learner Education Centre

Teacher Diaries

Teacher Diaries: Ms. Nordstrom – Celebration

5 reasons to celebrate both our failures and our successes  

There are a lot of reasons we celebrate – holidays, a new job, a friend’s wedding, birthdays, graduations – and plenty of ways we celebrate these – parties, gifts, bringing together family and friends.

But celebration doesn’t have to be all pomp and circumstance, it can be as simple as acknowledging a job well done.

We often celebrate our personal successes in this way, a high exam result, completing a project, a new business idea – but how are we when it comes to celebrating our failures?

Because both success and failure help us to create change in our lives and spring to action, taking us closer to achieving whatever goal we have set for ourselves.

1. Perspective

Having a big goal or a high standard set for yourself can feel like heavy burden, making you feel like your goal is so far out of reach that it’s unattainable. So celebrate all of the steps you choose to take towards this goal, the ones that succeed and the ones that fail.

Feeling defeated by failure runs the risk of demotivating you all together, why not embrace it instead as a step towards where you want to go?

2. Success often starts off as failure

If you keep your motivation and choose to learn from the times when you have failed, your failures end up becoming important to achieving your goal. They can tell you what you need to change, and what direction you need to be taking next.

3. Developing adaptability and learning

When you make a mistake or you fail at something, things have often not gone the way you planned them. You have to learn to adapt and tackle the problems you face.

4. Celebrate small victories

If you see the bad, remember to also see the good. Celebrating small victories gives you motivation to keep working towards your larger goal.

5. Celebrating the success of others

Comparison is the thief of joy and viewing others success with jealousy does the same to your own success.  It takes away the joy you find in your own achievements, and it’s a missed opportunity to be inspired by someone else and find motivation and ideas in their accomplishments.