26 Celebrating Failure

1) The first thing that comes to mind when I think about a time that I failed is when I had to play a difficult clarinet part for a song that my friends wrote. About a week ago, my friends and I met up at another friends house to record music. I haven't played my instrument seriously in over 4 years, but I took my clarinet just in case I felt like playing. This time the song my friend wrote had clarinet parts in it, simple stuff. At the end of my part was a really high note that I had to learn before I played it. It probably took me 10-15 takes to play the part cleanly, and another 5-10 takes to play the high note at the end to get a good take. My friends assured me it was okay and that autotune would help me sound better. In hindsight, it was fun playing my clarinet in a song, but while I was recording, it felt like I was failing hard.

2) It helped me to take my time when learning my part to play it better and more in time. I can apply that same mindset to learning new skills and to trying to better myself at other acquired skills. I also learned that the reward for something after failing multiple times makes it much more satisfying and that I shouldn't always be looking for instant gratification.

3) Personally, I don't cope with failure pretty well. Although I don't show it, after failing at something, I tend to lose most motivation and I become lazy. This often leads me to fail at other things, it's a vicious cycle that's hard to break out of. This class has changed my perspective on failure, making it almost a necessity to coming up with solutions or fleshing out opportunities. Most of the time,the consequences of failure aren't as big as they seem. So as of now, I'm more likely to take risks than I was a few months ago.