My CV of Failures

Friends,

This week, I found out that I’d failed to get my dream job as an Academic Foundation Programme Doctor.

On my Apple Notes, I have a folder called Rules to Live By. Here, I write down little rules I’ve learnt — along with the accompanying story. At the moment, these are nice to read through — but I hope they’ll become a useful collection some day.

I fleshed out Rule #007 in my Annual Review, aiming for three big fails in 2021. The logic being — that if I’m not failing regularly — I’m not pushing hard enough.

Of course, this is nice as an academic activity — but when you actually fail — you still feel like shit.

My friend Mala graduated from Imperial Med School a couple of years ago during which she interned at the European Space Agency, Harvard and Touch Surgery. She now works for Cellen, hosts the RSM Digital Health Podcast, regularly writes for the Guardian and sits on the editorial board for the International Journal of Digital Health. 

Last week — we spoke about some of her big failures. It’s interesting that even people as impressive as her have a CV of failures just as long (or longer).

In fact, this Princeton Professor shared his CV of Failures on Twitter.

If I’m going to attempt two more failures this year, I need to reframe it as a positive. So I’ve created my own CV of failures.

Warmest wishes,

Musty