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Dealing with Disappointment...

dwinhold

Hello community,

 

I haven't seen this ever brought up before, so I figured I would talk about it.

 

Scenario:

 

So I competed in a challenge and created what I proposed. My design worked great, went that extra mile with my creation. Posted many blogs and followed the rules of the competition. I was very proud of my accomplishment figuring, "I have got this, how can I not win!!".

 

Result day, I have to see what I won (Since I had to win). WHAT? How could I not win? This isn't fair.. image

 

I'm sure I am not the only one who has felt this way (If I am, I'd be surprised).

 

Stages of not winning:

First comes disappointment (about 10 minutes of this stage)

Then the "So unfair" stage. How did I not win, I had this. What were the judges thinking?

Stage 3, I don't want to compete anymore. Why should I compete, create the perfect project and still lose.

Stage 4, after felling sorry for myself for a few days I start thinking, "What did I do wrong?".

Final stage, read in detail every competitors blogs (especially the winners) and see what they did differently.

 

After spending days reading the blogs I realized, "My project was great, I learned a lot, but it wasn't winning material". Reading the winning blogs made me realize how far off the mark I was. Sure my project was the best in my mind, but my blogs, videos and photos were sub-par. Lacking the fine details that could have made it a winning project. The winners of the challenge more then deserved it, great blogs, impressive videos and photos.

 

Boy do I feel like an ass, the way I felt about loosing. I suffered from the sore loser syndrome.

 

What did I learn?

So what did I learn? Well, I learned so much from my project and my abilities greatly improved. After reading the other competitors blogs, I learned a bit more about how to create better blogs of my own. It was my own fault, not the judges for not winning. For me to think that the reason I didn't win was everyone else's fault and not my own now makes me feel real bad. The winners deserved to win (Great job to all the competitors).

 

In closing, there are reasons for how well I did in any challenge and to learn how to improve for the next one.

 

I hope I am not alone on this,

 

Dale W

  • I think you're absolutely spot on, Dale. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that we all have a different idea of what we want to see from a project. I've often found that the choices of winners in a competition differs quite a bit from what I feel are the best - and that's the same whether I've entered the competition or not. When I've judged a few E14 contests I'm sure some of my picks baffle people too. That's just the way it is. I try not to less the disappointment bug me for too long and I move on to something else. If you have created a project that you've enjoyed working on or that you've learnt from then you've already won.

     

    The was only one time that I felt slightly justified in being annoyed with a decision (and I can say this as it wasn't on E14). I worked really hard on something and was careful to meet all the requirements - which made things fairly difficult. I thought I'd done an excellent job. The eventual winner hadn't followed the rules at all - not even the broadest interpretation of the title of the competition. It made me wonder why I'd put in all that time and effort. I did win a runner up prize in that one, so I can't really complain. It just felt a bit off.

     

    On the plus side, there are so many interesting and generous competitions, challenges and road tests here on E14 that if you miss out on one then another is sure to come along soon enough!