Scarlett's Blog

Blog entry for April 12, 2010  
 Hi everyone,

For my blog this week, I've decided to write a bit about success and failure, in every part of our lives.

On average, people view 2.5 successes to cancel out one failure. Simply put, this demonstrates risk aversion, or that old adage about 3 compliments for each criticism. But what does that mean for us? Well it means that we naturally avoid risk, and we instead choose the more secure option.

This can definitely be a good thing for us. It means we don't end up going to close to a cliff's edge. But it also means we often settle for less than our potential.  Remember, the worst enemy of ‘great' is ‘good' or ‘good enough' (If you haven't already, read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins). What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, we underestimate ourselves and choose the safer option because it's ‘good enough'. This can be applied to all parts of our lives. For us, students about to graduate, it can be as simple as not applying for the amazing job because we're too afraid to fail.

Right now, at this point in our lives we have to be ambitious and we have to be smart. We need to have a plan, and we need to be willing to fail. We learn so much from our mistakes. It can be as simple as putting up your hand in class and not being afraid to have the wrong answer. I read an article about our generation this week and it said, ‘If we are serious about building resilience, we have to let them fail. It is only through our failings in the learning process that we have anything to learn.'

So don't sell yourself short. Take a little risk. And think about the possibilities of anything you do. If you apply for an amazing job, the worst thing that can happen would be the employer not calling you back, but you also may end up with the job.

Good luck!

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