Dealing with disapointments

[rsisk]

PS: Anyone know how hard it is to look up that onomatopoeia word when you have NO idea how it is spelled?

... Sound it out? yuk, yuk

My wife and I were talking about this, as always she had good advice built from experience.

When we came in way low on the totem pole last year, Dona basically went through the good things that happened during the year with the students, going over them one at a time, looking for input from the team. Then after some of this exercise she asks them if they would do it all over again. They all end up saying yes.

[Chris is me]

"It doesn't matter that you failed, it just means you have to do it again!"

After Atlanta, I went to IRI. I figured if I didn't do well enough to seed there, I should prove my worth at something tougher. When 1714 (surprise) didn't make elims there... well, next year there's a whole host of things to do better.

I don't know what advice to tell you if it's your last year in FIRST though

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't know what advice to tell you if it's your last year in FIRST though

The lessons learned from disappointments in FIRST don't stop at robots. If it is your senior year and you don't plan on mentoring any time in the future then you have to focus on how you can apply the lessons you learned to your other activities.

If you do think you might be mentoring in the future then you can record the lessons to review before your next season. Even if you take a year off from FIRST before coming back as a mentor, or even all four to finish up school, these recorded thoughts should still be applicable and helpful to the students on your new team.

[rsisk]

I don't know what advice to tell you if it's your last year in FIRST though

What is this last year in FIRST that you speak of???? I don't understand

I think mentors and team leaders experience disappointments like the students do. Maybe we handle it differently, try to keep a positive attitude in front of the team, etc.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't know what advice to tell you if it's your last year in FIRST though

No one should have a last year in FIRST.

I would tell them to mentor a team and help them succeed by either "winning big" or even just helping them learnmore is success in FIRST!

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

No one should have a last year in FIRST.

I would tell them to mentor a team and help them succeed by either "winning big" or even just helping them learnmore is success in FIRST!

Haha, even though this is a little funny, there's plenty of people who let FIRST burn out in themselves. I'm not totally sure if I want to continue myself. Its a tough choice, and even tougher to maintain I would imagine, but there are definitely those who leave it all behind.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't know what advice to tell you if it's your last year in FIRST though

The lessons of FIRST are for more than just FIRST, theyre for life. Falling short of expectations is something that will happen everyday in your life. By learning to channel those feelings of disappointment into desire you'll see a lot of success in your endeavors.


-Brando

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Haha, even though this is a little funny, there's plenty of people who let FIRST burn out in themselves. I'm not totally sure if I want to continue myself. Its a tough choice, and even tougher to maintain I would imagine, but there are definitely those who leave it all behind.

I want to continue in FIRST somehow, but definitely not as involved as I am right now. Not wise to burn out in college, focus on your edumakatione.

[JoeyPass]

We only become dissapointed if we are attached to the outcome of something. The trick is to simply appreciate where you are or what you have done. It's called being in the moment. Most people would love to have the memories of being on Archimedies field in any capacity. There's an old saying; "Things could always be worse." Just remember that and you might just see what good fortune we all have.

[jaketessem]

Originally Posted by AndyB

After winning the Wisconsin Regional, having a decent run in Atlanta, and making it to the semi-finals at IRI last year, we were feeling really good. Then we ended up going 2-6 at the Wisconsin Regional this year. We were so heart broken that things weren't going our way. We didn't end up being picked or winning an award. It was probably my worst regional experience ever. At least as far as performance goes.

But I found that I had learned more from that robot and that regional than I have with any other. I had the rest of my spring break to think about it and it made me want to get a notebook and fill every page with a list of things that I should've done differently. I think you too will find that its at our lowest that we really learn the most.

I'm not going to say that losing is okay and that you should just forget about it. It sucks. I hate it too. But its something that makes you human. It's going to hurt and its going to eat at you a bit. But it's the bad times that make the good times great. MORT has a fantastic past and will have great moments again in the future. And when things look up for you, you'll remember these bad times, and they'll seem so worth it. When we run across times like these, we MUST keep pushing through it all. We MUST keep struggling.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

Im sorry to hear you are dissapointed, but you did win an award (I was there) and you were in the finals. Our rookie team, The Aluminum Falcon, got seeded 11th, were 8th alliance captain, and were the 2nd best rookie team there, and we didnt get any recognition. Im sorry to hear about your dissapointment, but you could be worse off.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by jaketessem

Im sorry to hear you are dissapointed, but you did win an award (I was there) and you were in the finals. Our rookie team, The Aluminum Falcon, got seeded 11th, were 8th alliance captain, and were the 2nd best rookie team there, and we didnt get any recognition. Im sorry to hear about your dissapointment, but you could be worse off.

This was from last year. 171 didn't make the elims in 2009 WI.

[davidthefat]

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison

Personally I just forget about it. I don't mean forget it and just forget, but forget it, but keep what you learned. If you are afraid of failure, you will never move forward. I have a lot of things to be disappointed by; I let the opponent score a touchdown because I went to the wrong zone, I fumbled a snap last game and the defence scored, I got my center spot taken away even though I did nothing wrong, but does that affect me in a negative way? No, it drives me toward perfection. Me not starting makes me try harder.

Disappointments should not discourage you, but inspire you to do better.

[pSYeNCe]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

Disappointments should not discourage you, but inspire you to do better.

Well then, I have a question for you all.

My disappointment this year is that my mother banned me from FIRST. Her reason is one I can't talk about here, but I assure you it's not sound. My FIRST team meant everything to me and I dedicated tons of time to it, and made some of the best memories of my life at meetings and (especially) competitions. I had intended on making two more years of memories, too (Junior here).

How am I to do better/deal/change her mind? I've tried convincing her and she won't budge, and we just don't have anything else like FIRST around here. Everyone here knows how exhilarating it is being on a team. I'm sure you can understand my frustration.

(I realize the topic here has been on competition disappointment, but *technically* the subject of the first post just said "Dealing with disappointments" )

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by pSYeNCe

Well then, I have a question for you all.

My disappointment this year is that my mother banned me from FIRST. Her reason is one I can't talk about here, but I assure you it's not sound. My FIRST team meant everything to me and I dedicated tons of time to it, and made some of the best memories of my life at meetings and (especially) competitions. I had intended on making two more years of memories, too (Junior here).

How am I to do better/deal/change her mind? I've tried convincing her and she won't budge, and we just don't have anything else like FIRST around here. Everyone here knows how exhilarating it is being on a team. I'm sure you can understand my frustration.

(I realize the topic here has been on competition disappointment, but *technically* the subject of the first post just said "Dealing with disappointments" )

If you really want it, you will make a way for it. There are people in this world that would try to stop you from reaching your goal, power your way through your oppositions. The only way to the top is uphill remember that. I will tell you this: FIRST is not the only option. One option is join a sport, build your own robot in your free time, do something else productive. You have to remember this, there are always more than one option. If it is a team that you want, go join track and field, if you are a bigger guy like me try out for football, hell, even go lift weights your self. You do not realize how much discipline you can gain from a strict weight lifting routine with a strict diet. Do something robotics related like programming or something in your free time.

Just find alternates.

[rcmolloy]

Ever since our terrible year in 2009, we have restructured EVERYTHING we do during the off-season and during the season. In 2009, the team took the mistakes that we made and made sure that they did not occur again this past year. Also, we tried to make everything simpler and easier.

I would love to write a huge post about all of this but I just wanted to mention what we did. My team didn't just sulk and say "OK were just gonna try harder next year." We decided that we were going to do things and hit our marks.

This was a quote I stated to the team last year during our Pre-Season meetings.

"Disappointments are what happened when we accepted defeat last year. This year, I am not accepting nothing less than excellence and positive outcomes."

I believe for a fact we truly did accomplish what that quote stated.