Congratulations, You Blew It
Congrats, you did it! You landed the dream post-grad job, you got your first-choice internship. You have officially made it. You begin this journey bold, fierce, empowered, the Beyonce of employees, prepped and ready to show the real world what you are made of. You have crafted and perfected your first assignment. You’ve poured your heart, talent, and acquired skills into that one thing- whatever it may be, however big it is. It is your baby, your crowned jewel, destined to blow them away and confirm everything you have been hoping to become as a professional. You hand off this piece of you, presenting your blood, sweat, and tears to your boss and you... completely blew it. All of the sudden your good intentions, creative decisions, and vision for your assignment are called into question and ultimately ripped apart. It may not happen dramatically, there may not be screaming or name calling, but that feeling in your chest is still the same. Whether they let you down easy, dismissing you subtly, or call it out directly, you have failed. Now what?
We may be tempted to shut down or give up but, failure is actually how we succeed. Every time we fail, we learn something new, even if it’s just where we can go to be alone and cry in the office. Failures do not define us, but how we choose to respond to them has the power to change our trajectory. I experienced this myself only a few months ago. I accepted my top choice internship doing marketing and social media. Before accepting I met with my boss to be, and we just clicked. The role was perfect, the place was perfect, they said I was exactly what they were looking for and more. I dove into my first content calendar, I created the graphics, wrote up the copy, did the postings, and at first everything seemed great. This all changed after my second meeting with my boss. We were going over my work I had done, and there were lots of praises and compliments, which I, of course, ravished in, being a people pleaser and a perfectionist. Then the conversation turned, one of the graphics and content I had created and published was called into question, there was a styling preference difference of opinions.
Long story short, they didn’t like it. I was more than a little surprised to discover that I, a people-pleasing perfectionist, do not take criticisms well. Shocking.
Walked in like the queen of the world, and I left the meeting feeling like the biggest fake there ever was. I put myself in a funk and questioned everything. I stopped taking risks, I scaled back my personality and style, I sought out reassurance and affirmation before moving forward with any of my work. I let one failed design define my entire experience. After having a senior year “oh my god I chose the wrong major, I’ll never have a career, and I’m actually terrible at this what was I thinking?” meltdown I did what you do when everything is falling apart, I called my mom. In all of her infinite mom wisdom, she reminded me that the work I do has value, value that is based on what I put in and not other people’s opinions. Unfortunately in the professional world, your boss or client’s opinion does matter. Of course, though she had a point, one design that wasn’t liked by one boss does not make me a failure, or in any way decrease my abilities. I chose to grow from that failure, and now I can better create for my boss exactly what they are looking for since I know what not to do.
We spend lots of time, arguably all of our time learning how to succeed, and not nearly enough time learning how to fail. The risk that this creates is when we fail, we do not know how to respond or move forward so we tend to shut down. Does failing suck? Of course. We always want to do our best and impress, but failure adds value to our lives and our work. Do not let one mistake or one failed attempt stop you from trying again. Move forward in spite of, and motivated by your mistakes, let them make you stronger, not weaker.
“Do not fear failure, but please be terrified of regret. When you walk out this door, into the real world, you’ll receive a lot of shut doors, a lot of turned down applications. You’ll hear way more no’s than you hear yes’s. Do not fear the word no, but be afraid of the possibility of a yes that you have prematurely destroyed because you have decided to quit before the clock strikes 12.” -Deshauna Barber, Miss USA 2016
About Shayla:
Shayla Hovde is a senior majoring in advertising and public relations who is hoping to specialize in event planning or in house advertising. This is her first semester with GrandPR. She has a black lab named Dakota (who she is obsessed with), she runs a small photography business, and her whole life runs off of her Pinterest boards.