SyBBURE SearleSeptember 22, 2022

Redefining Failure

SyBBURE SearleSeptember 22, 2022

Redefining Failure

Everyone has encountered failure. I’ve failed many times: I had to take the SAT four times in junior year of high school. I failed my Gen Chem II final and a 1000-level English essay. I’ve been in literally countless situations where my experiments failed in lab, leaving me to feel like a “dumb scientist.” I’ve also applied to more than 100 jobs in college and probably got rejected from 95% of them.

Highly successful people – figures like Thomas Edison, Michael Jordan, Dr. Seuss, and Walt Disney – have encountered failure on their way to success as well. When speaking on failure, those with success share a common theme summarized in what Oprah once said and the picture below:

“Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.”

Although feelings of stress, anxiety, tension, anger, and worry are often emotions behind failure (which are often the culprits of making it difficult to deal with it), reframing failure such that it “moves us in another direction” could help a lot. Being mindful as we flip the script is a good start when the puzzle pieces are not clicking. Despite facing failure in multiple instances, I still got into college, passed Gen Chem and English, conducted a few successful experiments, and received a job offer.

How to Flip the Script

It all starts with changing your thought and viewpoint – and practicing mindfulness surrounding your emotions about both the opportunities and challenges you encounter.

Acknowledge your fear and disappointment. Remember that you are not perfect, and failure is bound to happen. Also remind yourself that failure does not equal your worth or define who you are.
Instead of focusing on the final outcome, focus on what led to it. Ask yourself what happened during the process that went wrong. Was it an issue of time management? A problem of careless mistakes? Gaps in your knowledge or understanding? Seek out feedback and comments that could help you improve your work in the future.
Reach out for help. Remember that your professors are humans too and are most likely happy to discuss class content, test performance, or anything else. Contact your mentors to pick their brain and get their advice on how to move forward and pick back up from failing. Alternatively, set up a meeting with someone on Team SyBBURE! Just make sure you keep an open mind when receiving feedback.
Execute a modified game plan. Lay out concrete changes you can make as you try again. Assess your other commitments and how much you’re juggling, especially if the core issue was time management. Internalize and apply the advice, help, and feedback you may have gotten from others. Break down large goals into bite-size, smaller ones to make the process more manageable.
Keep trying, putting your best effort forward and keep moving!

Perfectionism: A Roadblock to Redefining Failure

Let’s admit it – imposter syndrome is very real here at Vanderbilt. Everyone seems impressive, seems busier, more creative, more traditionally “successful” (whatever that means). When we encounter failure, we may feel worse about ourselves because we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others.

You have to understand: Everyone is on their own path, including you! You never know where people are coming from, including their background, past experiences, chosen field, what they’re shooting for. Instead, it’s important to focus on engaging in meaningful experiences, ones where you can both fail and succeed, with the explicit goal of improving yourself along the way.

Take time to write down or mentally make note of your progress, thoughts, worries, being reflective and thoughtful about what you need to improve on. But, also track what you’ve been improving on – it’s also important to give yourself credit!

When things go wrong (and they will, inevitably), remember: You can learn something from everything. Even if things go wrong, learn from your experiences and strive to be better next time. You are not defined by your failures, but rather, by how you bounce back from the mistakes you made and what feels like impossible situations you’ve been through.

Also remember to surround yourself with people who respect and support you. FInd a community who uplift you, mentors that you respect and would like to emulate in certain aspects.

Finally, give yourself time. Take a break when you feel like you need it. Undergrad flies by, but it’s still four years. Life also takes a long time. Make sure you find time to enjoy it!

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