The Fear of Failure

Failure. 

Who hates that word?! I know that I do. I hate failing. I hate being wrong, and I hate disappointing myself. Failure was (and still can sometimes be) a hard thing to come to terms with. What I LOVED about this episode with Jordan was that he put into words something I felt but never really knew how to express.

I have always been competitive - especially with myself. So when we decided to start this little thing called C &D Events - I wanted to do it right and perfectly every single time. However, I knew that I had a ton to learn. After every event, I would pick it apart. I would dissect every decision, design, floorplan, and timeline and decide if I could have done better and what I SHOULD have done better. In turn, I would create a better SOP for the next event. At the time, I wouldn’t say I had failed that event - I mean everyone was happy and they were married - it was a success! But I have come to realize that failure isn’t always the opposite of success. There are lots of successes in the midst of failures. And for me, I noticed where I failed. My very first event, my timeline got way off because I didn’t allot enough time for pictures. Simple mistake - a micro failure you could say.  I didn’t look at this “failure” as the photographer's fault or even the client for forgetting to inform me she wanted 100 million pictures after the ceremony - but as mine and mine alone. It was because I didn’t ask. It was because I assumed 30 minutes was enough. I didn’t take the time to figure it out and do my homework. It ended fine and we made up time - but I remember in the middle of it I had to figure out very quickly how to extend cocktail hour and push dinner when the food was very much ready. It was stressful and I felt like I had royally screwed up. 

If we take every failure - whether large or small and choose to not grow and learn - we are missing the very point of failing. Failure is not something to be ashamed of, or even scared of - it is something we should look at as a point in life or business that made you who you are today. I now have a very solid SOP for creating timelines that ask all the questions and it is one of the things my clients always have such great feedback on - that I can run a tight schedule. 

Let’s cheers to learning through failure this week! 

Dana