Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time.

This past semester I failed to get a venture off the ground. This idea was first created during the IA study abroad trip to Ireland and was the brainchild of myself and three team members. What caused it to fail was the very fact that since last fall, we planned out to join the Big Idea Contest. Half of the team had any real interest in the competition itself and the idea failed to get off the ground. We decided to push on from this failure to realize our entire concept is flawed. The end result of all of this was that we lost the competition and the idea is now buried.

2) Tell us what you learned from it. 

What I learned from this experience is to not trust flaky friends and rely on people that are gung-ho for a project. The other thing is to actually think out what you will create and then compare to the real-world and see how it fares under criticism. This will save so much time for future ventures as time goes on. Finally, start small and work your way up as if you try to build an idea from the sky-down, then it will just remain in the clouds.

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were four months ago?

I handle failure by analyzing what caused it in the first place to deal with the behavioral aspect of it. Another aspect that I deal with, are my very own emotions which are usually in a negative state as a result of a failure. Through mediation and looking at previous and future successes, I pass these low points quite easily. This class has not changed my perspective on failure as that is something I have dealt with for quite a while, what has changed in this time period has been how I see it in a business atmosphere. Risks are something I am willing to take more often as time goes on and four months ago, I would be scared to even look into the abyss.