Failure

My brother has taught me a few important life lessons, and although he has always been excited about my successes; he has been much more interested in my failures. He believes multiple failures are the key to success.

Recently one our peer advisors was selected to give a speech at graduation. At our last training session for the year, she asked the group if we could 'sum up' our experiences at university. After some thinking and group discussion, it was my turn to answer the question. I said "Failure." As you can imagine there was a mixed response from the group. Some laughed and others were overcome with a look of compassion. Oh, poor Devon. Then I explained my answer. If you are not afraid to fail, then you are not afraid to try. I told them that through my experience at university I tried many things, and most of my attempts were failures. However, since I tried so many, I was able to find the ways in which I succeeded and therefore the ways in which I left my marks on the university.

On the same note, our study abroad director always asks potential graduate assistants to tell a funny story during the interview. One day he explained his reasoning to me. Funny stories reveal many things about the applicant. It most likely means they were trying something new, and it most likely means that this new thing was not a complete success. The key is the word 'funny' though. If a student finds a story funny, it means they have truly learned a lesson and understand the humor or irony of the situation.

So what does all this have to do with Marketing Ur Experience? The secret is really story telling. Previous posts have highlighted skills to write on a resume, and thanks to the S.T.A.R. approach we know how to talk about these moments in a linear way. Failure, and the examples above, are where we find those stories to talk about. The key is breaking down your funny story or failed adventure to see what exactly went wrong. At our university we refer to this process as unpacking.

In conclusion, it is just as important to pay attention to failure. We always learn something. I guess my brother was right.