"Whatever you do, do it passionately. Failure is an event, not a person. Every obstacle presents an opportunity... if you're looking for it. Relax! You only fail when you quit."
I work with a student who has ADHD. For the first month we worked together I learned a lot about how it feels to come away from a session with ill progress. To watch a student make the same mistake multiple times, at a speed that seemed almost incorrectible. But in time, as we've spent more time together, I've learned how to stop and restart her as she works so that we can correct, and then repeat again and again until she gets it right. I am blessed in this case with someone who, when she hurries, appears to be doing so out of a desire to please instead of indifference toward success. She's been more than willing to endure the repetition that it takes to get it right. So it's not only a lesson for me in the value of treating each failure to teach as a chance to improve as a teacher, but a chance to observe and admire the work ethic of someone who persists with material that is immensely difficult for her.
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