1. This semester has gone pretty well for me because I have relatively easy classes. I don't have any huge failures, but it has felt like it at times. In one of my classes, I got a C- on one of my papers. This wasn't a huge deal, but I was pretty upset because this paper counted for a huge portion of my grade. It brought my grade down to a B, which I also know isn't a huge deal, but I am trying to revive my GPA after a horrible fall semester. I wanted to get all A's, especially since I have an easy course load. It was a pretty long paper; it ended up being around 12 pages of writing. The crazy and stupid part, though, the part that made me do poorly, is that I did it in one night. I planned on giving myself two nights to do it, but the night before it was due I went to a party, so I had to complete it the night before that. I have literally no idea how I did that.
2. I learned yet again that it is a horrible idea to wait until the last minute to do something big and important. Procrastination is never a good idea. It definitely changed my ways a little bit because of how stressed out it had me and how disappointed I was when I saw my grade. I was stressing about the paper weeks before it was due, yet I still decided to do it two nights before and I still decided to go to a party instead of giving myself more time to complete it. The party didn't even end up being worth it, so it was also more in my head to always put school before my social life.
3. Failure is very hard, and I have always taken it badly. I hate to fail, and I think everyone else does, too. I always get so mad at myself for my failures and am very hard on myself. However, I do think failures have a silver lining. Failing makes you realize what you did wrong and helps you to succeed in future endeavors. Failing at something once makes you much less likely to fail at it the second time because you've learned what not to do. I think that this class has taught me that failures aren't always a bad thing because they almost always teach you something important. Getting a C- on my paper taught me not to procrastinate on writing a paper. In the case of procrastinating writing a huge paper, I don't think I'm very likely to take that risk again, because it taught me that it would only result in a C- (in other words, failure).
I agree with you, as I don't take failure well. I think most of us have high standards for ourselves and when we don't meet or exceed them we feel like failures. It is a good thing though because like you said, we learn from them and try not to make them again in the future. We have a similar view on failing and I think most people would if they try to be the best versions of themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on your concept of failure. I felt that procrastination was one of the keys to my downfall on certain portions of my semester, especially taking a really hard class. I tend to get really upset at myself and lose motivation for the class because of that. I learned that it is okay to be upset at yourself, and you can pick yourself right back up after that fact!
Hey Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me laugh, I think you really understand what its like to "fail", even if it something as small as getting a C on a paper. I struggle with procrastination myself, more and more these days now that we're quarantined. I think the biggest frustration for failure this semester is expectations. I expected to be doing a lot better this semester as well, which makes"failing" so much more disappointing. I think its great you're learning to mitigate risk based on this "failure" though, that makes it all worthwhile. Keep up the good work!