Movies That Show The Power Of Trying
Effort Over Outcome Is The Key To Developing Grit And Resilience
Image by L.E. Wilson from RedBubble based on work by Tim from Pixabay
It may not seem like it, but a monumental step in our collective growth as a species happened this past week on 04/20/23. SpaceX launched Starship, an almost 400 foot tall (120 meters) rocket, the largest ever attempted, in an effort to gain the technological knowledge to travel to the planet Mars. It reached an altitude of about 24 miles (39 kilometers) before engine problems led to its intentional destruction.
A sincere appreciation for the effort is warranted.
And some fundamental questions about human nature are brought to the forefront. What would encourage someone to try again after experiencing a setback? What motivates a person who has achieved success in one area to try a risky endeavor in another (e.g. Elon Musk, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, Inc., CEO of Twitter, Founder of The Boring Company, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI)?
The answer to both lies in counsel you may have heard before in reference to dealing with students: praise the effort, not the result. The idea is that you want to encourage a learner’s good habits that led to improvement or success, e.g. getting good grades. But if you only focus on the results, on the grades, that may lead to bad habits that are damaging in the long run, like cheating, and it may even create fear and doubt about the possibility of maintaining good grades leading the student to take easier classes, for example, to not risk a bad grade. Conversely, if the student is praised for the effort, for doing the best possible work, then good habits are reinforced and tougher classes are not feared because the student genuinely understands that learning is what really matters.
But the deeper life lesson these students are getting is the knowledge that success is not guaranteed, and it’s not gained in one step either. Therefore, what looks like failure is part of the journey. Nothing that happens on your way to reaching a goal is actually a failure, if you stay determined and focused. Meanwhile, everything you do and what happens as a result of your effort is part of the process that is needed to achieve something greater than before. Understanding this is what leads one to develop grit and resilience, which are necessary components for any achievement.
Yes, Starship, a rocket as tall as a 40-story building and the most powerful one ever built, exploded, or experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” as SpaceX put it, about four minutes after launch. But if you’ve ever achieved something difficult, or something no one else has ever achieved before, or learned about such feats, then you understand that everything is a learning opportunity.
Everything is a stepping stone to something greater. In particular, if you look into the history of space flight a little further, it is apparent that new rockets often fail on their first test flights. For a dramatization of this, watch the first entry in this list of movies that can help you to fully appreciate a sincere effort—even if the results were not what was hoped for:
The Right Stuff (1983) is a drama written and directed by Philip Kaufman that is based on the book by Tom Wolfe about the true story of the development of space flight in the United States from Chuck Yeager’s (Sam Shepard) breaking of the sound barrier to the Mercury 7 astronauts that included the first American in space, Alan Shepard Jr. (Scott Glenn), the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn Jr. (Ed Harris), and the first American to spend an entire day in space, Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid).
Life Lesson: In order to push the envelope and succeed at something no one has ever done before, you must be brave and willing to fail.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Awakenings (1990) is a drama inspired by the true story of neurologist Oliver Wolf Sacks and directed by Penny Marshall about patients affected by the encephalitis lethargica epidemic of 1917-1928 that coincided with the Spanish flu pandemic.
Life Lesson: The simplest things in life bring about meaning, purpose, and happiness.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Apollo 13 (1995) is a drama directed by Ron Howard, based on the book by Jim Lovell, about the historically significant Apollo 13 NASA flight to the moon by American astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon).
Life Lesson: It takes a lot of hard work to make a miracle happen.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Up (2009) is an animated fantasy co-written and co-directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson about an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner), who moves his house with the help of a young boy, Russell (Jordan Nagai), to South America, in order to fulfill a lifelong wish he shared with his wife Ellie.
Life Lesson: Caring for living beings is more meaningful than caring for material possessions.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
As these four movies show, when dealing with technology, experimentation, testing, design, all kinds of things will go wrong. It’s Murphy’s Law, which, if you think about it, is the only way that complex systems could be developed, that is, incrementally and with many opportunities for unforeseen malfunctions to occur. But history has shown us repeatedly that out of ashes comes advancement, and every unpredictable event brings us one step closer to understanding how the universe truly works.
Rocky (1976) is a drama directed by John G. Avildsen about an amateur Philadelphia boxer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), who gets the chance to fight heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) as part of a publicity stunt.
Life Lesson: Push yourself to reach your full potential.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
The Karate Kid (1984) is a drama directed by John G. Avildsen about Daniel (Ralph Macchio), a newcomer to a high school where he is bullied, which prompts him to seek the teachings of Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), an elderly Japanese martial arts master.
Life Lesson: Learn to defend yourself in a way that should gain the respect of your opponents.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Lucas (1986) is a coming of age drama written and directed by David Seltzer about Lucas (Corey Haim), a bookish, small-framed teen from the poor side of town who wants to win the affections of a classmate, Maggie (Kerri Green), by joining the school’s football team, while being oblivious to the affections of his friend, Rina (Winona Ryder).
Life Lesson: Just because you like someone does not mean they will like you back.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Moneyball (2011) is a drama directed by Bennett Miller, based on the book by Michael Lewis, about Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the Oakland Athletics’ general manager who used statistical analysis to assemble a competitive baseball team on a limited budget.
Life Lesson: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
As in the case with technology, sports is also an arena where the unexpected can throw a careful plan into chaos, but where grit, determination and focus, again, can make all the difference. And not just in the final results, but in the imprint that such a struggle leaves on the players and what they can learn about themselves and about life that will help them in the future. The core wisdom that these four movies reveal is that of the old adage: it’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game that matters.
All of the eight movies listed above show things not going according to plan. Some people may even say that they show failures. But if you can look at the effort instead, look at what was achieved and what may be possible because of the knowledge gained in the attempt, then you will have discovered something that only the greatest innovators of our species have uncovered: there is no such thing as failure.
Visit the moviewise catalogue—a searchable database of one sentence movie summaries, movie quotes, and movie wisdom—for movie recommendations.
Also visit the moviewise store. Get a t-shirt, bag, or pillow with your favorite #LifeLesson from a movie. Reply to this or leave a comment below to make a request.
Very motivational and concrete writing on life lessons with great selective quotes. Thank you very much for your good work.