26A Celebrating Failrue

I currently work part time for Event Options, an events platform that lets users source multiple local suppliers for the best products and services for their events. My main job is to draft and upload a supplier’s products and services to this platform. In the beginning of the semester, I my boss and I discussed the upload process in person, and I thought I understood it well. I was going through a particular supplier’s inventory and noticed he had a bunch of trivial items. I wasn’t sure whether or not to add these items to the upload and decided to add them anyways. It turns out my boss didn’t want these items. Overall, I wasted hours of work adding then removing these items from the platform. Through this experience I learned that if I’m not sure about something it’s better to clarify before starting then to waste my time doing a task over and over again.

Failure is very hard. The way I handle failure is I try to frame it as a learning experience. I try and reflect on why I failed and what I would do differently next time. I also share my failure with my support network and ask for feedback. This class has really emphasized that failure is necessary because it teaches you what not to do.