Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure

Assignment 26A – Celebrating Failure

            My biggest “failure” so far this year has been when I applied for an organization on campus that I was passionate about and was denied. From the very beginning of the semester I was preparing to apply, by planning who I was going to ask for a recommendation letter, how I was going to get a professional headshot taken, and what I was going to say in the interview. I went to the meet and greet event to meet the participants of the program and ask any questions that I had. I worked hard on my application, and I felt prepared and confident. After submitting my application, I soon found out that I was selected for an interview. Knowing this was a very competitive organization, I was honored to even get an interview. However, the interview didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I was then rejected from the organization.

            I learned that I should have been slightly more prepared for the interview than I was. I was sick the day before, and so I lost a lot of the prep time I had allotted. However, I should have started preparing earlier than the day before. I also realized that it probably just wasn’t meant to be. I don’t think that I was qualified or prepared enough to take on that particular role, and that’s okay.

            I think failure shouldn’t even be considered failure, but instead an important learning experience. You can’t change the past, so the only thing you can really do is reflect and think about what you can do better next time. When I “fail,” I feel temporarily dejected, but soon after I realize that I just have to come back even better than I was before. Failure is your chance to work even harder and come back even stronger. After all, it probably wasn’t even meant to be in the first place. When one door closes, that means that another will open.

            This class has taught me that failure is inevitable in entrepreneurship. In fact, there will probably be more failures than successes in any entrepreneurial venture. It is the people with perseverance and grit who push past the failures and get to the successes. I think that I am more likely to take a risk now than I was a few months ago because I know that failure is normal and expected, and how you react to it says everything.