“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
A few weeks ago, I attended a speech contest for Toastmasters District 28. The winners from eight divisions were competing for the district title. The district winner would advance to the international level contest in August. Weeks of preparation would culminate in this very hour. A judgement would be rendered. The winner would be revealed.
I mean, this was a big deal. One of these speakers could be the 2018 world champion of public speaking.
I sat attentively in the audience listening to their speeches and wondering who would be the first place winner. The speeches were excellent. The competition was fierce.
I was glad that I was neither a contestant or a judge.
In my book, they were all winners. But only one could be the first place winner. And only two would be runners up.
I enjoyed all of the speeches. I was equally entertained and enriched. Yet, one speech in particular stood out for me. It was titled “Go At It Again.”
The speaker appeared on stage dressed in a jogging suit. He immediately captured our attention with a joke about being the most nonathletic black man ever. He rips off his jogging suit to uncover his suit and tie.
Then, he eloquently transitioned into a motivational speech on the importance of never giving up.
It is such a valuable lesson to learn. If you are going to succeed at anything, you will need to embrace failure and exercise persistence.
Success is a continuous process of striving, struggling and adapting. It is experimentation at best—an ongoing cycle of trail and error.
Many of my early lessons in success were related to cooking and baking. I actually learned to bake first. It is still one of my favorite hobbies.
Cookies were simple. Cakes were another thing all together.
There were numerous conditions for a cake to bake properly. The order ingredients were placed into the mixer. The blending speed. The oven temperature.
Greasing and flouring the pans — I mean this was before cooking sprays came along.
A pound cake would cook for at least 60 minutes. Hopefully the thermostat was working properly. And then finally, I could take the cake out of the oven. Prayerfully it would glide right out of the pan.
Most cakes turned out superb. Some were flops. The disappointment would well up inside. What did I do wrong? Why didn’t this cake turn out right?
My mom would start pulling out the ingredients. No time for a pity party. We were starting over. It was time to go at it again.
I thought I was baking.
I was really learning how to be resilient and persistent. I was actually learning about temperament and emotional control. I was certainly learning that mistakes happen and life goes on.
Failure is a part of success.
Anyone who has succeeded, has also failed.
And if you are going to succeed in whatever it is you are pursuing … you’ll need to remember when the results are not as you expect or desire, shake it off and go at it again.
What have you recently attempted and failed in your initial effort? How did you recover from this failure? Please share your thoughts in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you.
Evelyn Summerville
