Failure

So I've been interviewing quite a bit and a wide array of questions have been thrown my way.  This entire experience is completely new to me.  It is half fun/half terrifying.  I found that I have to be on my toes and free my mind so I can reach far back into the depths of it to recall certain events, examples or be creative. 

One of the fun questions I was asked was, "If you were a final contestant on Jeopardy and had a choice for the Final Jeopardy subject, what would you choose and why?"  I smirked, thought and came up with "History of US Rowing."  My reasons were, I am a rowing groupie and have studied the sport since I was in high school and the rowing community is extremely small compared to the population and I figured not many people are familiar with it.  Another reason, that I didn't express, was that I have NO IDEA which author in the 17th Century used the phrase, "Blahsi blahsi blahsi..."

The BEST question I've been asked is, "How do you feel about failure?"  I'm not sure if this is a common question, but it should be.  It's also somewhat of a trap.  Many would think they should answer with some kind of response that involves not ever failing and succeeding at everything you do.  THAT'S CRAP.  Everyone fails.  It's a fact of life.  Every single person in this world has gone out to accomplish something and not achieved the end result.  You know what?  THAT'S OK!!!!

I consider myself somewhat successful.  Whether it is luck, talent or just pure hard work (it's most likely the first and last reasons) I have managed to accomplish many of my goals.  However, I have also failed a lot. 

Let's talk rowing.  I have lost so many more races than I have won.  It sucks; I don't like it, but it happens.  Everytime I have failed I tried not to dwell on it.  Instead, I analyze and try to learn from it.  My sophomore year in college is a prime example.  We (the Navy Varsity Lwts) had a pretty terrible season.  Going in we had high hopes and I was determined to prove myself as a Varsity Oarsman.  But when the time came to line up and get the job done, we couldn't do it.  We finished the season under .500 winning percentage and didn't make the final at the championships.

After that series of events, I thought about what we could have done differently.  That, along with amazing leadership from the seniors and my coach helped us to NOT LOSE a single race in the US the next year.  Our first loss came in the semi-finals of the Henley Royal Regatta.  I feel that we, as a team, learned from the previous year's humble experience and capitalized on it. 

I feel a simple goal in everyone's life should be not to let failures define you.  What defines you, is how you handle those failures.  Learn from them and allow them to build your character in a positive way.  Keep a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA!!) and keep on going after your goals. 

Have a good one,
Jimmy