Welcome to Day 6 of A Week of Living Brilliantly.
How are we almost at the finish line already? If you’ve missed anything, you can catch up on the earlier lessons here.
Today, we’re talking about a word that doesn’t usually make people leap out of bed with joy: failure.
And Kristen Hadeed wants us to see it differently.
The Lesson:
Kristen is the founder of Student Maid and the author of Permission to Screw Up. And she knows failure up close.
When she landed her first big contract, 45 out of her 60 employees quit … three days in. Ouch.
But here’s the twist: that disaster became the doorway to her biggest growth as a leader.
She had to drop the ego, admit what she didn’t know, and ask for help. That failure is why her company eventually thrived.
Failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s the draft notes. The rough sketch. The messy rehearsal. (Or, as you learned on Day 2: being in the weeds.)
And here’s the paradox: pretending to be perfect makes people trust you less. Owning your missteps makes them trust you more.
Kristen suggests a simple practice: make a Failure Résumé.
Jot down your stumbles, then draw out the lesson or gift inside each one.
Do it with your team. Do it with your family. Or just do it for yourself.
Because when you give yourself permission to screw up, you give others permission too. And that’s how we learn, grow, and lead together.
The invitation
Try starting your own Failure Résumé.
Pick one stumble from this past week — big or small — and write down:
- What went wrong
- What it taught you
- What might be possible now because of it
See failure as fuel. If you’re learning, you’re not failing.
Your turn
- What’s a stumble from the last 6 days that you’re still learning from?
- What “failure story” of yours might actually be the most helpful thing someone else could hear right now?
A Week of Living Brilliantly is a free mini-course designed to spark new ideas, gently poke your thinking, and maybe (hopefully) even delight you.
Seven days. Seven different teachers who’ve shaped me. One short lesson each day from September 29–October 5.
If this lesson stirred something inside you, imagine what 52 in one year could do.
That’s what The Year of Living Brilliantly offers: a short lesson every week to gently nudge you to think more clearly, connect to new possibilities, and shift to the positive.
Until Wednesday, October 8 at 11:59pm ET, you can join The Year of Living Brilliantly for 20% off with code WOLB.
