Fail Faster, Learn, and Grow.

I have learned it the hard way, never say no to opportunities coming your way, just because you fear.

Just go and give your best. Don’t think of results….

I was always been very confident since my childhood, I never had this fear of failing and a second thought about it. I tried almost all the things that came my way. In school days, I did speak at assembly without preparation that was the first time when I dared to jump in the pool without knowing how to swim. As I had to cover up one of my classmates, I did great my teacher said and that rosy words boosted my confidence. I used to be in my choir group — when I really couldn’t sing well I knew that I wanted to at least try once. In our society functions every year, I never missed taking part in various competitions, I took part in fancy dress, acting, etc. Childhood was fun.

I also went classical dance for 7 years, and slowly growing up my confidence went down. When I stepped out into the real world which is a hostel, that was a major change in my life. I felt small, and my confidence crashed. Because I started comparing myself with others.

Reason...

I was very bad at drawing in my college, so I started wondering if it was really for me. starting from childhood everybody in my family said, you will be an artist. But when I entered college, it was difficult for me to understand what was happening around me, now that was reality not a very glooming world as my parents told me.

I approached many classmates to help me, many tried helping me but many made fun of me. I was demotivated. My professor never approved my work, she just gave me a redo on every assignment as I couldn’t do well.

For one of my Typography assignment — I did redo for 15 times. In my first year, almost all assignments were at least done 3 times by me.

I was the only one in my hostel who would sit night redoing my assignments. Other classmates would do it one night before and would have fun. By looking at their work I would get dejected that I am not worth being here — I started comparing myself.

We get stuck in many steps while climbing, Never stop practicing but in the right way.

I have had goals from my childhood, I was not intelligent or smart but I was hardworking and consistent. I valued my time. I never got distracted by my personal life. I had many bad phases in my personal life but I never let that affect my career. That’s the thing you should know about the balance. I don’t want to say focus on only one career but find that middle path. I see people these days just keep saying and building castles in the air. The enthusiasm gets high and when it comes to putting it into practice, they procrastinate or just get distracted. when you think, plan, and execute, and repeat the circle till you are satisfied.

Never shy to seek help.

From my classical dance to my first job, I have always asked many questions to people. I failed at simple things and asked for help. If you have the right attitude no one is going to deny helping you. I entered into UX, without even thinking if I would be able to do it or not. I just went with the flow, I failed multiple times from my training till yesterday. But I learned.

In my training, on my first day, I was asked a question by a senior colleague, “Can you tell me what is E-commerce website, according to you” — and I directly said no I don’t know. Can you help me understand what it is? Trainees around me laughed. It hurt me I felt like an idiot, I doubted myself that whole night and stood up the next morning with a smile in my training room. I ignored it as I knew I was learning. And see today, I am working on a good project in my company with the same people and with everyone’s help and guidance. Still going through ups and downs, but satisfied.

Discipline is important.

Everybody procrastinates, and so do I. I also don’t feel like working on some days, I fear failure sometimes, and anxiety is on top of my head. But keeping a To-do list helps me. I plan my day before sleeping every night for the next day. This helps me save time on thinking about priorities. But things always don’t work as planned so I try to achieve as much as I can. But remember not to burn out in the process. I have experienced this burnout and my anxiety levels were busting and at the same time affecting my health.

If I feel low, I start telling myself why I started this in the first place. One more thing that has helped me was the sticky notes in front of my desk, so I don’t forget my goals and they help me to be motivated when I try to skip my task. Motivation is short term but inspiration is long term. Try to find that.

I also tried all the ways suggested by people to stay focused on my goal. Maybe I was being very tough on myself. I gave myself space and did what I could. Take it slow but at least try once, someday in the future, you won’t regret that you didn’t trying. you may fail many times and someday you will also enjoy the real essence of success.

These phases will appear in everybody’s life. If you start comparing yourself with someone, you will end up being discouraged. I always believed in hard work and consistency and seeking help from the right people.

I hope you all enjoyed reading. Cheers !!