Undergraduate / My ambitions were high: COMMON APP / Recount an incident or time when you experienced [2]

Once, quite recently in fact, I was faced with a huge decision. You see, my ambitions were high, but my scores were not. I was extremely confident that my scores would be excellent, maybe too confident. Maybe that was my first mistake. With the scores I had, I could not get into the universities or colleges I wanted to get into at first. I decided to let matters be and watch some TV to take my mind off things. What I watched changed my attitude and my mindset toward not only my scores, but also my whole perspective of life. There was this one quote "When we are at our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change". I realized that there could be nothing but improvement from now on. Instead of going about things the usual way, finishing it quickly and tying it with a bow tie, I looked at each problem, I started with the basics of each problem, I worked towards the top. Instead of working down, I worked up, towards perfection.

Perfection may be impossible to achieve, but we can get as close to it as possible. All my life, I had lived thinking that if I fail at something, I am not good at it and that I should focus on something more along my "abilities". This show changed me. I saw that if you fail at something or make a mistake does not mean you are inherently bad at it, it just mean that you have to work towards finding that one thing which can change your work toward the better, that one thing which can be changed to make your work a masterpiece.

I realized that with no significant failures in my life till that point, I was working with the attitude of a person constantly used to winning, one who is maybe too confident in his abilities. I realized that I had to change my attitude toward my projects, and my results would change too.

I was devastated at first. I refused to carry on, thinking that anything else that I do from now on would result in failure too. But then after I thought it through I realized that there was still scope for improvement. There will always be scope for improvement.

I learnt that failures are not really obstacles set in stone. They are but obstacles which once scaled makes the result that much sweeter. I realized the failures aren't a definition of who you are, but just a harsh reminder of what happens if you forget who you are. I learnt that failures are just wake up calls to get you to get up and start working again, working as you would have at the beginning.