Making The Most of a Second Chance
Have you ever messed up? Perhaps you made a mistake at work, treated a romantic partner badly, said an unkind word to a friend.
Guess what? You’re not alone. We are human and we make mistakes. In a professional environment, if you never make mistakes or fail at new tasks, then you are probably not stretching yourself. As you grow and develop in your career, you will face failure. But it doesn’t have to be final. Our failures are opportunities to grow and learn.
A part of that growing process is to be willing to give yourself grace and accept the second chances that you are given. People often say you have to pick yourself up and go again, but sometimes, we need someone else reach out their hand and help us back up.
As we enter a new year, I encourage each of us to take intelligent risks and to accept the second chances we are given when we fail:
- Take responsibility: No one expects you to be perfect, so remove that pressure from yourself. Take a look at where you went wrong, acknowledge it and look for ways to improve. This first step is about self-accountability. It takes courage to admit our shortcomings, but it is imperative to help us move forward in a positive direction.
- Set clear goals: What do you want the future to look like? Decide what YOU want, not what others want or think you should do. Once you decide that, you can craft a plan through education, mentorship and relationship building to reinforce your goals.
- Let go of the past: Easier said than done right? Give yourself grace and move beyond your past shortcomings. Let what defines you be not the failures of the past, but how you responded to them in a positive way.
Our 2025 EdCon Keynote Speaker will be Kelley Wentworth who was a contestant on the show Survivor. Kelley got a second chance on the show after being voted out early the first time she played. She will be sharing how she turned her experience around and created success by taking risks, creating alliances and trusting herself. And she had to that in front of millions of people. Her story will inspire you and will draw connections between her success and it can correlate to yours.
