A Tale of Personal Failure

I'm going to tell you a story about the worst day in my college career (so far). It's a very simple story. Are you ready for it? Witness!

I woke up five hours late (1:00 PM) on a Friday.

That's it, pretty, much. But, okay, okay. Let me give you some context.

I had four things to do on that Friday.

1. Go to my 9:35 AM discussion class for Amer. Federal Gov.
2. Go to my 11:45 AM Food Waste / Food Loss class and take our weekly quiz
3. Meet my friend Khoury for lunch and hit her with a spoon*
4. Turn in my first Elevator Pitch for ENT3003 by noon

*(hit her with a spoon since she was my target for the Assassin game for my club rowing team, it was part of a tournament with a grand prize of $50 to the last one standing, which I ended up losing out on because of this awful day)

The more observant of you have already noticed that waking up late prevented me from completing the last item, which lost me 3% on my overall grade in my Entrepreneurship class. But the real tragic part of all this is that I stayed up late all last night into the early morning perfecting my elevator pitch. I finished it around 3:30, AND I DIDN'T EVEN TURN IT IN!

I missed my first class, making that the third discussion section I had missed, flunking my participation grade. I missed my second class, not only forcing me to miss out my quiz, but also putting me on alert for disciplinary action, since that was the second time I missed that class. I had to miss my rendezvous with my friend.

It really set me back academically and in regards to my morale/pride.

But with those doors closed, I had to try and open a few others, right? A lesson learned is a lesson earned. Whatever cliche you want to use, at least now I had a warning that I had to manage my sleep schedule and workflow goals better. I was lucky enough to only have relatively limited embarrassment and consequences from this.

I was able to bring my grades back and get over it by talking with my TA, teacher, and friend. The problem and the solution is that I think about, not just this example, but many of my failures, a lot. Through this Entrepreneurship class, I've started to take it all more in stride and be more forgiving yet calculating with all my efforts.