Why talk about failure being a good thing?

It is not good. It’s terrible. Real failure hurts.

But it is necessary.

For deep, lasting learning to happen, failure is necessary.

At Acton Academy, we don’t avoid it.

We own it.

Sometimes it’s the Eagles who need to own the failure.

Other times, we as their Guides need to own it because we didn’t make the “why” strong enough, or create a clear enough process to follow, or provide the right incentives.

The key is that the failure needs to sting. And after feeling the pain, there are two specific action steps we must take:

1Reflect on the failure and talk about it;

2Figure out what we’ll do differently next time.

What then?

We don’t quit even though we want to. We get back in the game.

There are no participation trophies allowed at Acton Academy. Instead, our Eagles carry around badges of courage, perseverance and honor etched into their hearts to last a lifetime.

Not so much fun. But definitely a win.