Wednesday, January 06, 2010

ASSIGNMENT: How do you feel about the fact that losing might be "the secret ingredient to success"?

ASSIGNMENT: Do you feel that losing might be "the secret to being a success"?

SOME SENTENCE STARTERS....

I feel that losing can be the way to succeed because....

I don't feel that losing can be the way to succeed because....

In my experience, I have usually learned more from my failures than my successes because...

MY SAMPLE...

I have learned the most when I have attempted something and failed because I have been forced to look at my actions and be reflective. It's great to have the sense of immediate success, however, it's the times when I have tried something that didn't work that I am more willing to try and see what went wrong. When I get it right the first time, I just celebrate and rarely look back at what made the success happen in the first place. It's only if I have been working hard, and been consciously working on improving something leading to the performance of a task, whether it be trying a new recipe or changing a system for organizing papers, that I feel like I have accomplished something.

Even if I took a test and failed, while I would be upset about the effect on my overall gpa, I would use that as a gauge as to how I was studying and preparing and would talk to the instructor to find out where I went wrong. I would also talk to my fellow students to see if I was on the right track with the material as well. The actions might not do anything to change my grade, but at least I would be more prepared for next time.

If something comes easy to me, I am less likely to ponder how I got there. If you don't lose once in a while, then it also shows me that you haven't been putting yourself out there and taking risks. As someone once told me, if you are coasting, you are actually going downhill. So every once in a while I may crash and burn, but as I am recovering and the scabs are forming, I am thinking --how can I get that same thrill and end up on my feet at the end of the run, without the scars.

Losing may at first seem like (and feel like) a bummer, but in the end, you learn more through losing that you do with an easy win.