Thank you Adele! Last night during the Grammys, in front of millions of viewers, Adele modeled the art of the do over to perfection. She was singing a tribute to George Michael and a few bars into her rendition of Fast Love, she stopped and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t mess this up for him. Can we start over?” A collective gasp shot round the world. Then, as if realizing what she’d just done, she dropped an undeniable f-bomb.
You might wonder, what’s so perfect about that? Often times our greatest failures become our greatest life lessons, but try telling that to a teenage girl who is obsessed with perfection and will do just about anything to achieve that. There’s an anxiety epidemic in our world today as our girls are bombarded with air-brushed images and unrealistic standards of beauty and perfection. To witness a pop culture icon publicly screwing up, owning it and starting over is one of the most refreshing and welcomed messages I’ve seen in a really long time.
Here are my top-ten takeaways from Adele’s epic do-over:
- When you fail it doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
- Apologize and make amends quickly and then move on.
- Life is messy and none of it is perfect, so do the best you can and keep going.
- Learn from your mistakes. Ask yourself, “What did I like best about my performance?” and “What can I do next time to improve?”
- Embrace humility. Real humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Adele’s goal was to give her friend the best tribute possible.
- Be grateful that you didn’t screw up in front of millions of people, and that one beautiful soul did it for you.
- Look for the silver lining. Remember that nothing is happening to you, but everything is happening for you. There will be great lessons that come from this moment.
- Use this story as a springboard for conversations about resiliency. Ask your daughter how she thinks Adele handled the situation.
- Failure is not fatal, nor final… unless you give up.
- Take a bow and say, “Ta Dah!” As Adele demonstrated, even the best fall down sometimes.
