One early experience at my placement and what I learned about myself…
On my second day at my placement, I was left alone by my supervisor. I had been briefed with a new task just before my boss left me for the afternoon; to come up with a broad list of ideas for content to create, and plan the roll-out of this content. I was told to start as soon as I had finished the task I was working on at the time, however I put off starting the task, as from her description I could tell the task was not going to be easy. When it came to beginning, I had no idea how to start, and time was running out. I attempted to think up ideas from thin air, with no real starting point or inspiration. I began to get very frustrated by my inability to complete the task with ease, became increasingly anxious about disappointing my boss, and started feeling a lot like the poor man in the image above. Ultimately, because of my own fears of not completing the task to a good enough standard, I allowed my stress to overtake my ability to deal with the task at hand.
This was interesting to me, as previously in my personal life, I have given up on tasks I was unable to complete with ease. Contrastingly to this placement, in all my other jobs prior to this one, I had never been tasked with something I felt I was unable to do, nor left alone to find a solution to the problem. I believe the novel quality of the situation was what intensified the feelings of stress.
This experience led me to the revelation that my fear of failure is colossal, perhaps abnormally, and that it hinders me rather than serves me. The most important lesson I think I learned from this experience was not to let my own fear of failure inhibit my ability to face situations. Firstly, a fear of failure proved itself to be totally futile and impeding. Also, the stress of the situation was intensified by this fear, and the situation then became a much more unpleasant and difficult experience than it needed to be.
I eventually managed to relax myself somewhat and started to try and take a new approach, by looking at online materials such as blogs and marketing platforms, as well as other charities for inspiration. This actually allowed me to work much more effectively, and complete the task relatively quickly. From this I learned that sometimes the best thing to do when facing a problem is to change perspectives and try and view the situation differently, in order to come to solutions. Taking a new, untested approach is definitely a tool I will use when I need to utilise problem-solving skills in the future.
I also learned another valuable lesson, which I believe will prove its importance across the board in years to come; not to put things off to avoid them. In the end, I still had to complete the task, just under more pressure and therefore a lot more stress. This was both unpleasant and ineffective. Again, I feel this is an important lesson to have learned and will prove useful in most walks of life.
When my supervisor came back, she was thrilled with the ideas I had presented, and very supportive when I explained to her that I had had a slight panic about the task. She was incredibly supportive, explained to me that this job never needed to be stressful and that my best was good enough. This made me feel so much more at ease with the situation. It also led me to realise that I need to work in a supportive workplace environment in future. I also learned that they type of people I like being around are those who uplift and encourage me and help me to reach my goals rather than those who do not offer help and support. I hope that this newfound understanding about what I want in a workplace will help me to weed out job opportunities where I may not find this. For example, I now know a smaller, more intimate team is something I should look into further as this may create a more encouraging environment for me to work and thrive in.
References
- Cagle, B. (Photographer), 3 People Sitting down [digitasl photograph], 2018 28th March, retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/g1Kr4Ozfoac/info
- Jeeshoots (Photographer), Woman biting on pencil [digital photograph] , 2018 21st January, retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/-2vD8lIhdnw
