I’d like to talk a little bit about failure. I mean when you just blow a job.
That devastation you feel. I had an experience recently where I really thought i’d prepared for a job.
I thought I was ready. I tried so hard and I want to do nothing but my best for myself and for my client.
And well, I just fell on my face. I didn’t have my “A” game.
It was devastating. I have people clients who rely on me for their fiscal well-being - and I take that very seriously.
The postmortem
It’s as important as it is painful - to find out how you got in that trap so didn’t get there again.
I’m not talking about beating yourself up. Heaven knows I felt bad enough as it was. But you know life, these sort of things circle around every now and again. Honestly it is a bit harder when you are seasoned "pro" and you fall flat.
I've come to some realizations about how I work, and what I need in order to fulfill my responsibilities on a job.
I had an interesting experience on my morning walk , running through my head how bad the job had gone. I saw this guy running down the road towards me. Full-on athlete in great shape, knew what he was doing had the stride. It was a little bit of a wet morning - nothing too treacherous. As he comes toward me I’m raising my hand to say hello and he hits the pavement. I mean he slipped and slid 3 feet on his leg and hip on the asphalt blood grit the whole 9 yards.
Clearly he was embarrassed and hurt but he does what you do. He got up. He brush himself off and kept running. Now we could take that as a metaphor for you fall down you are a little bloody you may have a scar but you keep going. The most interesting thing for me about it was my reaction.
As a witness to this fiasco I realized was that I wasn’t jeering him. I wasn’t making fun of him. I felt empathy and concern for his well-being and then after that I cheered up for him getting up and moving on.
This is what I take from all this. We’re gonna mess up sometimes. Maybe even REALLY MESS UP. We may have a permanent injury, a scar.
The client might be gone forever but you’ll be better for the next one.
Know that most the folks out there are not cheering your downfall , but are rather cheering for you to stand up and brush the pain off and get moving.
I had a fall about a year ago. It was a decent one that left me with a lovely scare on my leg and a permanent bump under the skin the doctor says is never going to go away. No one else can see it but I can feel it and it gives me a little bit of bother now and again. What do I take from this? I may not be able to run that same course again like that client may not come back but i’ll find another course to run and I try not to fall down this time.
I salute you others out there who have fallen on your face or slid down the asphalt and are bloodied and likely to be scarred…and you got back up and do better on the next run.
A monumental failure doesn’t mean you’re over.