Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life: Try Again!
Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us about the mindset of trying again when you fall down.
As a parent and a grandparent, I have loved watching the personalities and characteristics of my children and then my grandchildren develop. I can see things in my own kids as adults that were reflections of their behaviors as children. It’s fun to now see characteristics early in my grandchildren, and wonder what that will look like later down the road. For example, when my grandson was about three, he was trying to do something that was frustrating, but he kept at it, and finally was able to do it. When he did, he exclaimed, “I am good at doing hard things.“ I’m looking forward to seeing how that mindset will help to shape him when he is older. More recently, my granddaughter was building with blocks, and what she was building fell over. She looked at it, smiled, and said, “Try again!“ What a wonderful way to approach failure and defeat.
I have seen my granddaughter express the same response in lots of circumstances, almost as if it is her two-year-old mantra. She keeps trying things, even things that are risky and new, and frequently fails the first time, but always says, “Try again!” She has even said the same thing to me when I’ve dropped something or something didn’t work right. How encouraging it is to hear that kind of response to struggle from a little child!
Proverbs speaks to that mindset when it says that a righteous man will fall seven times and rise again (Prov. 24:16). I want you to notice that this verse points out that even a good person will fail, and likely more than once. What distinguishes that person, though, is the response to failure. It’s the response of getting back up and trying again. It’s learning from the failure, developing your skills, growing in strength and ability and understanding, and continuing to improve until you’ve overcome. As the saying goes, “when you fall off the horse, get back in the saddle.“
That’s the lesson on leadership from this little thing in life, from my granddaughter responding to struggle and difficulty and failure with a simple “try again!“ We will face hardship, we will face difficulty, we will fail or mess up. One of the most important things that matters in those circumstances is our mindset and attitude. It’s whether or not we will let those circumstances defeat us, or whether we will respond to those circumstances by seeing them as a learning experience from which we can grow, and try again with enthusiasm. So, if you fall down, try again!
