Celebrating Failure

I have failed so many times this semester, my hands are sweating as I type this, recalling all the times my face reddens in embarrassment from an error. When I fail, I never let myself live it down. For instance, I misspelled a student’s last name in the paper. Oh yes, I was one letter off, but it changed my entire life. Not only did I lie in bed and contemplate my career in journalism, I cried a bit. A fact error, can in some cases, be life ruining, especially if it morphs the entire meaning of a story or fact. That was probably the worst one. 

What I learned was, I have to be so careful when it comes to spelling names. I misspelled the student’s last name because I did a phone interview off of my friend’s phone. I was also exhausted, and it was near deadline. I learned that I have to TRIPLE check. That means finding the student in the UF Directory (and making sure they exist), and even checking Facebook to see if there’s a profile that matches a person.

I think failure sucks. Truly and honestly, it makes life a lot harder when you have a big red X that follows you wherever you go. But if you keep that big red X in check, if you keep it close and keep it as a reminder, you can make sure it’s only one. Once I got over the initial embarrassment, I contacted the student and apologized. It helped, a bit. But my pride was still wounded. And to ensure I don’t fail like that again, I’ve learned to find ways to fact check myself. This class has helped me put failure in a different perspective. In class, when coming up with a business product, I’ve learned that failure is the criticism and feedback that helps you create a better product.