26A – Celebrating Failure
1) This past semester, I was playing in a basketball game in our intramural league. Having played varsity basketball in high school, I consider myself to be a very good player. Anyways, in a game where we were down by 1, I missed two free throws that could've potentially won us the game. This is not the first time this has happened. I've never been that good of a free throw shooter, even with multiple hours put in of practice. I've had this exact scenario happen to me twice in my life before it happened again this semester. The other two times this has happened was once during a league game and once during a game for my high school in a tournament.
2) Even though this has happened to me three times in my life already, there is something I can learn from this. I learned that you need heavy investment in something in order to better yourself at it. Hours of practice isn't enough to better yourself. Instead, severe dedication through hundreds of hours of work must be put in in order to see real improvement. This lesson of understanding what truly is hard work and dedication is something that I've carried with me my entire life.
3) Failure can be many things. To me, Failure is seen as an opportunity to learn. I constantly try to look at things with the glass half full. Because of this, this causes me to look at failure through a positive lens. The ability to cope with failure and not show physical or emotional duress from it is what separates the people who show real improvement in today's world. This class has shown that this perspective is true more than ever. If something was easy, then anybody would be doing it. You have to be ready to take risks in order to succeed. With risks, comes failure. It's only natural to fail at something that you've never done before. But one's ability to look at this failure through a positive light rather than a negative one is what will ultimately determine that person's perseverance.
2) Even though this has happened to me three times in my life already, there is something I can learn from this. I learned that you need heavy investment in something in order to better yourself at it. Hours of practice isn't enough to better yourself. Instead, severe dedication through hundreds of hours of work must be put in in order to see real improvement. This lesson of understanding what truly is hard work and dedication is something that I've carried with me my entire life.
3) Failure can be many things. To me, Failure is seen as an opportunity to learn. I constantly try to look at things with the glass half full. Because of this, this causes me to look at failure through a positive lens. The ability to cope with failure and not show physical or emotional duress from it is what separates the people who show real improvement in today's world. This class has shown that this perspective is true more than ever. If something was easy, then anybody would be doing it. You have to be ready to take risks in order to succeed. With risks, comes failure. It's only natural to fail at something that you've never done before. But one's ability to look at this failure through a positive light rather than a negative one is what will ultimately determine that person's perseverance.
Hey Jordan!
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to losing a game that could have been won if I had been a better player. I played soccer for years and I could never make penalty shots. I've lost us countless games and it used to really mess with my head negatively. Taking this class has also given me a new perspective on how failure is a good thing, and usually necessary to move forward in life.
Dear Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI understand where your coming from, I played lacrosse in highschool and had a scoring opportunity and missed the shot completely based of my own fault, It costed us the playoffs and I didnt want to show my face o the team. But it helped me learn that failure is only temporary and not something to dwell on. Great Post!