Celebrating Failure

I have failed many, many times in both this class and other classes. Getting in-person interviews has been my downfall. I have missed several assignments in this class, and one very major 100-point assignment in another class. The first reason this failure happens is because I am nervous. I only know so many people and I am not going to approach a stranger to ask them about something I need for school. I also wait too long to contact people; if I have another class where I need to interview a professional or do a job shadow next semester, I am going to contact them the first day of class. I've had professional reporters agree to let me interview them and then not answer my email for three weeks (past my assignment deadline). Most people ignore my requests/emails. For one class, my email was forwarded to every teacher at my former high school and only one responded. So maybe in addition to waiting too long to start the interview process and letting my nerves get the best of me, I also don't know how to ask for help in the right way. My word choice or approach needs to be tweaked to get people to say yes to me. I have decided that in the future, if I ever get a request from a student, I will always say yes because of my personal experience.

I already knew that I was nervous and don't like approaching people about things. Interestingly, if it's for my own business or a personal interest, I have no problem talking to strangers. Another thing I already knew was that I am a terrible procrastinator. It's probably my worst quality. I almost always get things done; but I can't procrastinate when a task involves the cooperation of other people. I can't expect them to work on my rushed timeline, so I've learned I need to start these processes much sooner than I think necessary.

Failure is hard and embarrassing. I used to get horrifyingly embarrassed about something as small as tripping in front of people, but I've developed a much thicker skin. I think laughing at yourself is the best way to deal with it. That's not easy when your failure is something major; but a failure is nothing more than a lesson and the most successful people have failed countless times. I honestly think that as I get older and more mature, I get better at accepting my failures and just rolling with the punches. I do think I have gotten better with my nerves through this class. There were so many interview assignments I had no choice! And of course, once all is said and done, it's never a bad experience and I feel silly for  being so nervous in the first place.