Perseverance: What Do You Do When Faced with Failure?

On this tiny island of Singapore, a prevalent facet of our society exists in the form of being ‘kiasu’. A colloquial term for the fear of losing out to others, a whole generation of Singaporeans were brought up with the ‘kiasu’ mentality. This cannot be more exemplified than the way we impart values to our children in schools – students who are often over prepared and told to expect anything, resulting in many of them possessing the mentality that failure is not an option.

And yet as we advance forward in the pursuit of growth, it is imperative that these students also understand that failure is part and parcel of life. It is only natural for us as imperfect human beings to make mistakes and take a tumble every now and then, but it is how we stand up against adversity that makes us better. Perseverance, as a learned trait, is key to this.