We have all at one time or another been put off trying something because we fear we might fail.
People don’t want to look stupid, or get embarrassed, or a hundred other things they think might happen as a result of failing.
But ironically the most successful people in life in almost every profession or talent have failed more than any of us.
It is through those countless attempts that they put in the practice necessary to become great at something.
Today we’re tapping in to this concept, and I hope that we can help people think about all the different facets of what failure actually means – and get some fantastic discussion and writing out of this.
So let’s get started!
How to use these prompts:
Don’t be afraid to try new things 🙂 Very meta, I know!
Why not try incorporating two writing prompts into one written piece?
Or, pick a random number between one and nine, and go with the corresponding prompt, and write a page on the topic.
Perhaps it could be a weeks writing, to cover one after the other, so every angle of what failing means is covered – and then the next week, focus on success and progress as their own standalone topics!
The writing prompts:
- Do you think failure should be avoided at all costs? Or is it just part of learning and growing as a person?
- Can you think of an example where you failed at something many times, before trying a new solution which worked great?
- Famous successful inventors usually failed countless times before succeeding. How would the world look if everyone avoided failure by never trying anything new?
- Do you think failing at something is always a total waste of time? What might you get out of a failure?
- Do people who are scared of failure their whole life end up experiencing more or less than people who aren’t scared of failing? Why?
- How would you teach a young family member about picking yourself up and trying again after failing at something?
- Some big tech companies who make amazing products we love have the motto of “fail fast”. What do you think that means, and why might it be useful to them?
- Can you think of examples of two people you’ve known in your life who treat failure very differently? Describe the differences.
- If someone is afraid to fail, or being seen failing, they might not ever pick up a musical instrument, and never go on to become an award winning musician. Explore the other options.
Need more prompts to inspire writing?
Well we have thousands more prompts for you here on our site!
We’ve got loads of individual topics covered for all your fiction and thoughtful writing needs – and also have multiple random story starter tools to generate thousands of unique starting points for students creative writing inspiration.
If you have any ideas for what we should create next for you all, please let us know – we love to hear from our wonderful community.
Until next time.
Yours,
Matt & Hayley
