2017: Failure is an Option.

by Kathy Seaton

While some of us might consider that Hilary Clinton, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, or Tony Romo committed some of the most epic fails of 2016, I challenge you rethink your definition of failure.

While I don’t have much to say about Mariah’s New Year’s Eve lip sync disaster or Kanye’s mental meltdown, I do think that we learned a lot from Clinton and Romo. Clinton has her pitfalls, but we all do. What’s important is that she took a leap of faith, put herself out there, and nearly became the first female president in the history of the United States. That is profound. And whether you’re a football fan or not, Tony Romo led “America’s team” for over a decade, and whether or not he was still able to play, he moved to the bench as a second string QB with grace and dignity.

We’re all human, we all lose, we all make mistakes, we all commit internal crimes of great proportion. That doesn’t automatically put us in this giant category of what has become to be known as failure.

I’m not trying to stand atop a soap box, but I will remind you that we’re the lucky ones; we can fail and no one is the wiser. Be glad that you’re not one of the many in the public eye that are constantly blasted on broadcast and social media, or featured on video on You Tube or epicfail.com.

Failure has become an institution in society. We rival in the failures of others. Let’s ask ourselves, why do we do that? We need to quit. It’s not funny, it’s not novel, and it’s not productive to laugh in the face of failure.

Failure is good, that’s how we learn. That’s how big business grows and it’s how we mature professionally and personally.

Failure is bred by the resistance to change. Albert Einstein said it best with his definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Maybe in 2016 we missed a few goals, maybe we’re not happy with the current state of the country, or maybe we suffered loses that seem insurmountable. Epic fail? I think not. And those aren’t reasons to believe that last year was wasted and should be forgotten.

Instead, let’s focus on change in 2017. Make a few solid resolutions that are attainable and inspire something different. Challenge the institution and surround yourself with positive people; people that appreciate your faults, but more importantly, celebrate your wins.

Here’s to failure, change, and success in 2017.