26A – Celebrating Failure
1. This past semester, I attempted to pledge a business fraternity. I got through the rush process and into the pledging process for a solid four weeks until my academics along with my job was too much in combination with all that was required of me for the frat. The lack of free time took a toll on my mental health, which caused me to step back and reflect on all my involvement. I decided to drop the frat, despite the immense amount of time and effort I had put into the organization. This was not something I wanted to do nor something that was easy.
2. What I learned from this experience was the importance of doing everything you do with excellence and filling your life with opportunities you're passionate about. If there is no passion in what your'e doing, theres less effort and determination. When I evaluated my involvement, I felt as if the business fraternity was not something I felt passionate about. Further, I learned the importance of prioritizing your mental health and making habit of occasionally taking a step back and evaluating why it is that your'e pursing certain opportunities. This includes making sure to fill your life with things that represent you and your values, not what other people believe will cause you success.
3. While failure can be extremely difficult in so many ways, ultimately it has allowed me to grow more than when I am successful. It forces me to adapt to a mindset of looking forward, improving myself and working harder to achieve my goals. When I experience failure, I usually write down what I failed at achieving along with what exactly I did leading up to it. For example, if I failed an exam, I write out my study habits, how long I spent studying, my mental health during the time, etc. Regarding the business fraternity, I evaluated how I managed my time and my decision making process of every involvement I had at the time. I then look to see what it is I can change in the future to prevent the failure from reoccurring, and focus only on what I can control. I believe this class has allowed me to completely change my mindset regarding failure and risk-taking.
2. What I learned from this experience was the importance of doing everything you do with excellence and filling your life with opportunities you're passionate about. If there is no passion in what your'e doing, theres less effort and determination. When I evaluated my involvement, I felt as if the business fraternity was not something I felt passionate about. Further, I learned the importance of prioritizing your mental health and making habit of occasionally taking a step back and evaluating why it is that your'e pursing certain opportunities. This includes making sure to fill your life with things that represent you and your values, not what other people believe will cause you success.
3. While failure can be extremely difficult in so many ways, ultimately it has allowed me to grow more than when I am successful. It forces me to adapt to a mindset of looking forward, improving myself and working harder to achieve my goals. When I experience failure, I usually write down what I failed at achieving along with what exactly I did leading up to it. For example, if I failed an exam, I write out my study habits, how long I spent studying, my mental health during the time, etc. Regarding the business fraternity, I evaluated how I managed my time and my decision making process of every involvement I had at the time. I then look to see what it is I can change in the future to prevent the failure from reoccurring, and focus only on what I can control. I believe this class has allowed me to completely change my mindset regarding failure and risk-taking.
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that your mental health is a priority. I think whenever you make decisions in life you need to ask yourself if it's something that is really important to you. I pledged a fraternity and it definitely messed with my mental health too. I like how you said focus on the things you can control. Because to be honest that's how you should live your life. Don't fret about things that aren't in your control because it will eventually fill you up with anxiety. Keep studying and working hard. Those are a couple ways to keep a driven mind set. Great post!
Hi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading and could really relate to your post. Pledging is a super long and annoying process that no one wants to deal with. I too went through something similar when I pledged for my fraternity. It's a huge time commitment on top of school and work. I really like how brought up the idea of passion. I completely agree with you when you said if you aren't passionate about whatever you're doing then you shouldn't be doing it at all. We all strive to achieve greatness and this is just one of the ways we do it.