Colossal Failures

Link for RSS subscribers: MythBuster Adam Savage's talk on Colossal Failures.

Adam said his failures on the baseball pitching machine and the film set were part of what made him who he is today. Though I can't seem to recall "colossal failures" (what seemed like "colossal failures" at the moment now appear rather mild in retrospect), when I thought about my failures, I saw how they shaped me into who I am today.

Back when I was in secondary school (equivalent of junior high school), I was asked to do a speech during assembly in front of the entire school. Being "shameless" and willing to have a go at almost anything, I agreed! I don't remember what the talk was about anymore - but I remembered how I did it.

At that time, I was reading a book about mind maps and thought it was "perfect" for everything! So I drew a mind map and spoke off it - bad idea. My speech floated from branch-to-branch on the mind map and lacked a clear storyline. I managed to cover all the points I wanted to make, but without a clear structure or a memorable story to back it up, I doubt any of them stuck in the audience's mind.

Luckily, the shame factor wasn't high because I was only one of many selected to speak during the hour-long assembly. But after that speech, I thought, for a while, that maybe I wasn't made for public speaking.

I didn't give up, though. Over time, through trial-and-error, by listening to other people's speeches, and by reading articles and books on speaking, I developed a satisfactory level of competency in public speaking. I don't claim to be a great speaker or story teller, but now, I can confidently accept a public speaking opportunity and know that I'll be able to deliver it.

That said... perhaps the fact that I can't recall big, colossal failures means I haven't taken enough risks and done as much things as I could or should have! Perhaps it's time to take more risks and do more!