Memoirs Q17: What are some of the Key Lessons you've learned from your Failures?

I will, once again, need to think on this one.

First of... I needed to think of a failure in life. For this, I had to go back to College. First, I had failed Accounting, not once... not twice, but thrice. The third time was the most frustrating because I did not reach teh cut off by two points. Why did this happen? I'll just have to chalk it up with disinterest on the subject. Commerce was not a choice I wanted in College. Probably because I did not find an interest in business back then. But my dad and grandfather did not want me to opt for Medicine, so there I was... in a course I was unsure of... taking a subject that was all about records-keeping. I was uninterested - yet this wa a major subject I needed to pass. I eventually did, but how did I do it? I beat the system - and learned to cheat. That's right... if trying to learn things did not work, I needed some code which I learned to slightly write in between the worksheet's lines using a light pencil - so small it was almost invisible.

Was I proud of this? Fuck yeah... I flunked College the first time because of accumulated failure units - and Accounting was basically a strong reason why it happened. So if you can't learn it... find a way around it. Sometimes, finding cheat codes makes for a better answer than being honest. That was one lesson. I learened how to be street smart.

Another failure I had happened early in my team lead days - I thought one style would work for all. This was before I learned about Situational Leadership - and by the time I read and learned about it, I laready had practical experience on what does not work. I just did not know why. And for a while, I thought I was a lousy leader. Not true... I just did not know how to lead for any situation. Now i know - different folks, different strokes - thogoh in this case, strokes is about Leadership styles. I may have learned about this a bit late to help myself and others prevent frustration. Not anymore. Now I teach leadership because I don't want others to go through the leadership trap thatis a one style fits all technique. You don't ram a square peg into a round hole.

Lessons? Be true to yourself - it can spare you from a lot of frustration. Come prepared, make your needed cheat codes. People are people - they have different personalities, different inspirations, different expectations and maybe even different learning styles. Yes, I can read financial documents - but don't make me make them. I eventually graduated witha course on Finance - not Accounting. I alwasy say the accountatn would painstakingly do checks and balances and will make sure every penny is accountted for. The fiannce guy will thing all those hours will be a waste of time, effort and resources - and will take out the penny from his pocket and say, there... now it's balanced. I preffer practical over correct.