Failure is a Necessity to be The BEST You

Failing, in my opinion, is a significant part of the college experience. For many, college is where you learn all about who you are as a person and you learn what you would like to do in your future. When you don’t take on new things, however, most times you never find your passion. We often don’t take on new things because we are scared that the other side of that chance is failure. What we often don’t know is failure allows you to grow, gain knowledge and become more in sync with who you are. 

I recently interviewed for a prestigious program on campus. In the interview, they asked me an interesting question: what would you do if you couldn’t fail? My immediate thought was to say “Tim, I would do everything that I’d like to do now, become a counseling psychologist, start directing films, and create my nonprofit mentoring program for under-served student populations.” I want you to think about this question for a second and decide what you would do if you couldn’t fail. Now, let me tell you what I would do now after I took some time to self reflect. My answer would be NOTHING, because without failure the best ideas you have would only be mediocre. They wouldn’t amount to anything or have much impact because you never struggled; your road to success was a straight line. Life brings many different struggles, failures, and obstacles, but with each of these three things comes wisdom, resilience, and passion. You grow when there are challenges within your life, and you must choose to learn from the situation at hand, so in your future you can surpass it with ease.  

I am pretty confident to say all of the greatest innovators have failed and faced heart-breaking obstacles, but eventually they chose to learn from their failures and make the most out of what they’d taken in. You cannot give up ever! Steven Spielberg, one of the greats of cinematography was rejected multiple times by a school he wanted to enroll in to make his dreams become a realityHe didn’t quit, he didn’t let the rejection hinder his dreams; instead, he chose to be more creative, stay driven and eventually that school named the cinematography building after him

Take on New Opportunities 

Don’t be afraid to fail! Take on new opportunities, take risks, and challenge yourself because we only have one life to liveLIVE YOUR BEST LIFE! Try new things, set goals and don’t let anything deter you from getting to those goals. We must have drive, passion and love for what we do and if we do not, there is no point in doing it. Our time is limited, so make the most of every second, every minute, every hour and day of your college experience.  

Fail Spectacularly 

When you fail, fail spectacularly, as Leslie Odom Jr. says. Embrace your failure and learn from your mistakes. If you failed to get into something that you wanteddon’t let it hurt you; rather, let it drive you to bring more creative ideas to the table, to grow, and to prove wrong the people who don’t believe in you. Michael Jordan said that he failed over and over again in his life, but that’s why he succeeded. His failures motivated him to work harder, to play smarter, and to be more creative on the court.  

I choose to FAIL, to learn and to let my failures become my driving force to be successful, and I hope that you will, too! 

Things I would say to my 18-year-old self

I have a confession to make.

I wasn’t always this cool!

RevengeoftheNerds

Okay, maybe I lied…I’m still not cool, but there is one thing that I can say definitively: I have grown up a heck of a lot faster than I ever thought I would.

Yes, we have all heard that cliché statement that college is the best years of our lives and that you will become who you were always meant to be here, and until recently I can honestly say I didn’t agree. I am not trying to be that melodramatic guy who says that the light has finally shown on me and now I’m this great person, but as I near my date of graduation there is this sort of reflection period, a sense that has sort of come over me. How have I changed? What have I changed? What could I have done differently?

Oh dear, why is this image of my eighteen year old self coming to mind?! Me, getting ready to graduate high school, aspiring to be someone different, the excitement of the unknown!

But what if there was a way to go back in time and say something to your younger self? What would you say and how would you say it? It’s hard to just pick one thing, one piece of advice that encompasses everything these past four years have taught me and then…aha! (light shining from the heavens moment)…I got it…TAKE RISKS! Taking a risk might seem easy but it’s truly not, it is something that I had to struggle with day in and day out these past four years.

I changed my major and transferred to Ohio State. I met new people and tried new things. All of that involved me taking risks! So here it is. I sit myself down, tell myself to listen, and say it one more time (because I tend to be a little distracted and forgetful every now and then):

I have gone through more than I could ever have imagined in the past four years. You may or may not follow my same path. You may be a lot smarter than me and do things I never could, but there is one thing that you have to promise me: day in and day out I want you to take risks! Because only when you take a risk and push yourself out of your comfort zone will you be able to grow as a person!

I understand this whole thing is mostly about my advice for my younger self but it does carry weight for others. Whether you take more risks or commit to a different goal, take a good look at yourself and see what you have done recently and focus on that, because only then will you be able to see the type of person you have become!