“What did you fail at this week?” And an update.
Yesterday, my daughter came home with her report card. On it was all As and one…let’s just say it wasn’t something I usually see on her report card. (Sorry, K! Hope you don’t mind me sharing! 😬) There were many tears and she owned up to the mistake without making excuses (this made mom and dad prouder than all As, I think!). We talked about why it happened, what she could have done differently, and how she is going to move forward. We came to the conclusion that her grade in the class had less to do with how smart she is and more to do with organization and responsibility. Turns out this teacher doesn’t announce homework in class. He only posts it online and she didn’t see it. Fair enough.
And then she got high fives from mom and dad.
The scenario reminded me of an article I read on Sara Blakely, the billionaire CEO of Spanks. In it, she talks about how every week her father would ask her “What did you fail at this week?”
“He didn't want to know how many As she'd gotten. He wasn't interested in how many girl scout cookies she'd sold, how many goals she'd scored on her soccer team, or whether she'd gotten a perfect score on her math test.
No, he wanted to know what she had failed at. And when she told him, do you know what his reaction was?
He high-fived her.
Think about that for a minute: Every week growing up, her father made her reflect on something she'd failed at, then showed her that not only was she still loved after failing, but she was celebrated for it.”
I know, right?! Best parents, ever. We, too, could have a billionaire daughter one day! 😉 All kidding aside, failing (both the act and reflection on the act) are vital to growth. How will we ever live up to our fullest potential if we are too afraid to take bold actions that have the possibility of resulting in failure? There are really only two outcomes of bold actions: failure or success. But if you use your failures in the right way, along with failures comes growth which will eventually lead to success. I know I’m not making you all 🤯 over here. But have to say, it’s one thing to speak (or write) about failure. It’s another to take bold, positive action in spite of it.
Moving on. All of this has me reflecting on the past year. On my own mistakes. 🙈 I had two big ones as it relates to my career:
Settling on a role. - In my last company, I was originally hired for one role and was switched. Twice. Three different roles in under 2 years. Wanting to be seen as a team player, I rolled with it. It was, after all, a very small agency. Plus, I was accustomed to filling in holes where I needed to while working for startups. I get that this happens, especially within small organizations. But…things just didn’t feel right to me from the very beginning. Looking back, I should have trusted my gut and either spoke up or started my search to move on to a new company. Speaking of moving on, this brings me to…
Getting caught flat-footed. - When I was laid off, it was a complete shock…and yet it wasn’t. I won’t get into specifics here but there were signs. Ugh. There I was right before the holiday season (when companies are slooooow to hire 🐢) with absolutely NO prospect of a new job. Doom and gloom set in. 🌧 And I settled in for the long haul of making it through Christmas unemployed. Fun times! You know the rest of the story.
So now what? My NOW HIRING MY NEW BOSS campaign is what! I am looking hard for a good fit in my next role so I don’t end up here again. Whether this campaign is a success or failure remains to be seen…
That brings me to the update! No official news yet (womp womp), but this week has resulted in 1 phone interview, 2 coffee meetings, 2 lunch meetings, and some new freelance work. Not too shabby, right?
However, my search for the right role with the right company continues. If you want to help and if you haven’t already, please share my post on LinkedIn. Or email my website to someone. Or send it to your local news station. Or hell, send it to Ellen! I’m kidding. Kinda…
Thank you to everyone who has shared my search so far and all who are following along. 😘