The “failure” trap

Hey Reader,

I’ll admit it.

When I first started thinking about not being a teacher anymore…

It felt scary. The whole thing made me scared.

I honestly didn’t know what would happen if I committed time, energy and money to shifting my professional life in a different direction.

Would I fail?

What would it even mean to “fail?”

Can we talk about why the idea of “failing” feels so heavy?

Because I honestly don’t think you’re scared of hard work.

I wasn’t.

And I don’t think you’re scared of learning something new.

As educators we have dedicated our lives to learning.

I think you were trained (very thoroughly) to feel like you have to get things right the first time.

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Think about it: as teachers, we’re evaluated constantly:

📋 By administrators
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 By parents
📊By data
💯By test scores
👀By the 27 tiny humans staring at us every day

We learned quickly that mistakes aren’t private. They aren’t even always objective.

(this one has always been tough for me)

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As a teacher, your mistakes are often very visible.

And over time, that does something subtle but powerful:

It wires us to equate learning with perfection.

To believe that if we try something new, we should already be competent at it.
That if we aren’t immediately good, it must mean we’re not cut out for it.

But here’s the truth you probably remind your students of but don’t apply to your own life:

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“Failure” isn’t final.
It’s feedback.

When you write something and it needs revision?
That’s information.

When a pitch doesn’t land?
That’s information.

When you feel awkward or unsure at first? That’s not proof you shouldn’t be there.​
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It’s proof you’re growing.

The funny part is—you already know this.

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You tell your students every year that mistakes are part of learning.

You build classrooms around a growth mindset.

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But somewhere along the way, you stopped extending that same grace to yourself.

Starting something new doesn’t require you to be flawless. (thank god)

It requires you to be willing.

And willingness is a much more powerful starting point than perfection.

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If part of what’s holding you back is the fear of getting it wrong…

I want you to know this:

You’re not incapable.
You’re just unused to learning in public.

And that’s a skill—not a flaw.

For now, just let this land:

The only way to guarantee failure…
is to never begin.

Dethawing in MD,

Meredith

p.s. A bunch of you let me know you would be interested in a free webinar to talk more about how to move from teaching to copywriting, so I’m working on it! Stay tuned for details about date and time!

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P.ps. if you are already copywriting, or freelancing and not in the classroom anymore, I’d love to hear from you! Hit reply and tell me more about what you’re doing!

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