There are quite a few attention grabbing and eye opening sentences and quotes “Failure Can Be an Important Part of Writing” like the quote from Anne Lamott about how “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts” and this holds true not just in writing but in all aspects of life. This essay focuses heavily on the fact that no one is perfect in their first attempts its their resiliency is what sets them apart. This essay really drives home that point with the examples and quotes that are displayed throughout. We also have to remember that if we we’re perfect already or perfect in any aspect of life there wouldn’t be anything for us to work on. Perfection is something we should all strive for and work towards but it’s something that is JUST a touch out of reach. Much like those cartoons where you see the dog running with food attached dangling in front of their head.
That is exactly how we should look at ourselves when we are working on our writing, developing ideas for writing, or even academics all together. Because perfection will ALWAYS be just out of reach. Even the most seasoned professors and teachers and writers out there are constantly working on, developing new skills and trying to improve their writing to the best possible final product. We should never be satisfied with the results. In a sense we should be addicted to self improvement.
Growing up and starting at a young age we are taught and instructed that falling down we need to get back up and dust ourselves off and keep going, writing is no different, Academics are no different. People think and talk about all these great athletes with their game winning shots, but what they don’t talk about or what they don’t talk about for long are those game LOSING shots, the ones that didn’t go in. That is exactly how we should tackle writing and academics as well. We don’t need to be overly concerned with the shots that didn’t go on but rather the one’s that did go in and what we did to get there. I believe that in our conscience we are so worried about failure and the grade attached to it we are afraid to make mistakes, and if we do make mistakes we are too proud to own up to them. Our own personality traits can play a pretty good defense though!
“Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be” – John Wooden
Reflection, self-awareness, and determination all play roles in learning, failure, and overcoming failure. Our personality and traits make us who we are, when it comes to academics this is no different. Without these values or qualities instilled in us then it would just make it that much harder to observe the errors, the causes of the errors and how to fix them. As a student and writer it’s imperative that we reflect. As an adult, it’s imperative to reflect. Reflecting is learning, learning is growing, growing is the key to success! So keep on learning, keep on failing and keep on trying!
