If at first you don't succeed... well, you know how the saying goes. But as Alina Tugend writes, "We grow up with a mixed message: making mistakes is a necessary learning tool, but we should avoid them." Read her article, "The Many Errors in Thinking About Our Mistakes," originally published in the Business section of The New York Times.

At the beginning of her career, social psychologist Carol Dweck asked herself a question: "What makes a really capable child give up in the face of failure, where other children may be motivated by failure?" Read more about Dr. Dweck's research in Stanford Magazine's, "The Effort Effect."

Looking for more Dweck? Read her recent article, "Brainology: Transforming Students' Motivation to Learn." It has the added (and excellent) resource of an article for kids on how the brain works.

Add one more piece to the FADAF equation: Failure actually engenders innovation, or as Roger von Oech writes, "it jolts us out of our routines and forces us to look for fresh approaches." Read more on von Oech's blog posting titled, "Embrace Failure."

"You can develop a resilient mindset at any age," Harvard Medical School psychologist Robert Brooks tells Melinda Beck in her article, "If at First You Don't Succeed, You're in Excellent Company." Written for The Wall Street Journal, this article is not to be missed.