“Failure is a mandatory step along the pathway to success.”
– Me, Coach Wes
During our Wednesday session last week, I asked the Strength Ambassadors what they thought about failure.
On Wednesday afternoons, the students and I gather around a small table in MissionFit’s meeting room (which also doubles as an office and a kitchen). We do breathwork, journal, and discuss coaching and much more.
The young people agreed with my statement. But before we dug deeper, I asked them to define and assess failure in their journals for a few minutes. I almost always ask, “If I were an alien, how would you explain ____ to me?”
Mecai shared, “If you have a goal in mind that you want to achieve but can’t do it anymore because something bad happened along the way or you just got rejected, it’s going to feel like you lost something.”
Mecai and Anyha shared examples of failures they’ve experienced, such as being unable to get a job or failing a test they expected to do well on. They know that failure can be disappointing, but they are open to seeing it as a motivation to keep trying.
I asked them how failure applies as a concept in coaching. Anyha immediately recognized how failure shows up in the gym: “Some people can and can’t do the exercises, and others say they can’t do it and want to give up.”
Together, we contemplated our role as coaches when people want to give up, fail at an exercise, or to achieve a goal.
I shared my theory that the gym is a perfect place to learn failure. Failure can lead to inaction and a closed mindset, but the gym can reframe failure. As coaches, we have the power and place to encourage people to develop a healthy relationship with failure, where failure is just a pit stop on the track to success, which can start in the gym but will have ripple effects beyond its walls. And our Strength Ambassadors can be at the forefront of redefining failure.
Failure is the pathway to success when you accept that you failed, correct the course, make adjustments, and keep going. Anyha and Mecai are well on their way to paving the way for others.
Coach Wes
