Social media is where we see many smiling faces and people flaunting their success. You will be amazed at how different people can interpret a post on social media. People get even more depressed when in their feed they see their peers seemingly having it all. Suddenly, life seems to be unfair to you.
Since I started sharing articles friends have approached me with some problems they faced. During discussions on many occasions, some implied I do not face the kind of challenge or have the kind of problems they have. It sounds funny sometimes, but I understand no two people have the same problems.
When we experience a setback, it tends to make us narrow our focus and attention on it while abstracting the consequences to the point where some people might think they are a failure. It is never a good place to be
For this reason, I decided to share my best learning experience (failure for some) in recent months. This is not intended to be opium for anyone or a vaccine against the pain experienced during failure but to show that broadening our perspective during such times can be very useful.
Some months back our lab applied for a ~£200,000 grant and unfortunately, we lost it. We had put in so much work, spent sleepless nights and stretched ourselves to get the proposal ready. Of course, I would have loved for us to win and I felt very sad for a couple of days. However, during this period I didn’t lose sight of other positive things that had happened as a result of that experience. Despite what happened, it was still worth trying.
I acquired new skills and was exposed to opportunities even a lost grant could not take.
So what stood out?
I gained more experience in team building and teamwork:
Pitching a project and recruiting people to be part of a team is no easy task. Looking for people who have the desired skills, are available, and ready to work with you either physically or remotely is challenging. This is probably the most important step as everything thing else depends on getting the team right. I learned how to convince people and negotiate resources to commit to the project.
I learned to appreciate everyone’s role and input in the project. The proposal development tasks were distributed amongst us. Responsibilities for obtaining quotes, budgeting, literature review and writing, designing graphics, reviewing, etc were assigned to different team members. All these were brought together in group sessions where we collectively built the proposal from the separate blocks.
I got a confidence boost:
It was my first time participating in developing a proposal for such a big project. We were responsible for important tasks which gave us a confidence boost when completed. I learned so much from our PI and other professors who were part of the proposal development. I learned to see laboratory research from a different perspective and improved significantly my clarity in communication. I am confident I am more resourceful and skilled to work on even bigger projects.
Some time back I couldn’t think of writing a project that big but now, I believe this can come to me more naturally than ever before.
According to the review, our project scored very high on several sections. Such scores coming from a reviewer did mean so much for me, I felt like it validated the knowledge I acquired so far.
Success can also be how much you improved from who you were yesterday.
I made new Connections
When collaborating on such a proposal you get to connect with new experts, learn from them, network with people to get the right skill and information. Even today, these people continue to expose me to many other opportunities.
I developed a tougher skin
I am not as disturbed as before when I see the “polite” and “encouraging” rejection letters. First rejections and failures hurt real bad but as time goes on they become less painful while the skill and composure to deal with them improve. I know many of such uncomfortable situations will come in the course of my career. The only thing that will matter is how I dealt with them.
I learned that every experience is valuable. The journey is also as important as the destination
Since I started sharing articles friends have approached me with some problems they faced. During discussions on many occasions, some implied I do not face the kind of challenge or have the kind of problems they have. It sounds funny sometimes, but I understand no two people have the same problems.
When we experience a setback, it tends to make us narrow our focus and attention on it while abstracting the consequences to the point where some people might think they are a failure. It is never a good place to be
For this reason, I decided to share my best learning experience (failure for some) in recent months. This is not intended to be opium for anyone or a vaccine against the pain experienced during failure but to show that broadening our perspective during such times can be very useful.
Some months back our lab applied for a ~£200,000 grant and unfortunately, we lost it. We had put in so much work, spent sleepless nights and stretched ourselves to get the proposal ready. Of course, I would have loved for us to win and I felt very sad for a couple of days. However, during this period I didn’t lose sight of other positive things that had happened as a result of that experience. Despite what happened, it was still worth trying.
I acquired new skills and was exposed to opportunities even a lost grant could not take.
So what stood out?
I gained more experience in team building and teamwork:
Pitching a project and recruiting people to be part of a team is no easy task. Looking for people who have the desired skills, are available, and ready to work with you either physically or remotely is challenging. This is probably the most important step as everything thing else depends on getting the team right. I learned how to convince people and negotiate resources to commit to the project.
I learned to appreciate everyone’s role and input in the project. The proposal development tasks were distributed amongst us. Responsibilities for obtaining quotes, budgeting, literature review and writing, designing graphics, reviewing, etc were assigned to different team members. All these were brought together in group sessions where we collectively built the proposal from the separate blocks.
I got a confidence boost:
It was my first time participating in developing a proposal for such a big project. We were responsible for important tasks which gave us a confidence boost when completed. I learned so much from our PI and other professors who were part of the proposal development. I learned to see laboratory research from a different perspective and improved significantly my clarity in communication. I am confident I am more resourceful and skilled to work on even bigger projects.
Some time back I couldn’t think of writing a project that big but now, I believe this can come to me more naturally than ever before.
According to the review, our project scored very high on several sections. Such scores coming from a reviewer did mean so much for me, I felt like it validated the knowledge I acquired so far.
Success can also be how much you improved from who you were yesterday.
I made new Connections
When collaborating on such a proposal you get to connect with new experts, learn from them, network with people to get the right skill and information. Even today, these people continue to expose me to many other opportunities.
I developed a tougher skin
I am not as disturbed as before when I see the “polite” and “encouraging” rejection letters. First rejections and failures hurt real bad but as time goes on they become less painful while the skill and composure to deal with them improve. I know many of such uncomfortable situations will come in the course of my career. The only thing that will matter is how I dealt with them.
I learned that every experience is valuable. The journey is also as important as the destination