On Curricula Vitae (CVs) and Failure Resumes.

Our society is wired by default to celebrate “Successes”.

We only remember stuffs like “the FIRST Man that landed on the Moon”, “the FIRST Man that climbed the Everest”, “the FIRST this, the FIRST that” others can take BRTs from there and go to Hell.

We are quick to celebrate stuffs like;
The best graduating Students..
The Top gainers on the Stock market..
The guys who just completed their PhD Summa Cumma Laude..

That explains why even when You need a job to EARN a living, they ask You to submit your CV.. AKA a summarised version of your Successes.

No doubt, it is good to celebrate Successes ….

HOWEVER, behind most of these 5.00 CGPAs and award winning PhDs are stock piles of FAILURES that actually made the Success Happen.

That is where the concept of a FAILURE RESUME comes in..

I first came across the concept of a Failure Resume 4 years ago.

A Failure resume is like your CV but for your FAILURES..

Whilst your CV showcases a list of achievements You have made in chronological order, your Failure Resume (FR) showcases the things You tried your hands on and
did not quite go the way You planned

If You want to take it a step further, append the lessons You learnt from these “FAILURES” to each one..

This is what it will do for You..

1. It will help You see how far You have come and how tenacious You have been.
2. On days when your village people are whispering to You that You have not done anything with your life, You will be able to juxtapose your CV and FR and show them empirically that You sef dey try..
3. And for Air-conditioned Mofos that will ask you your weakness during interviews, You can give them super stories from your FR..
4. and if You are a Writer like some of us, who knows You Best Seller might just be there in your FR… just connect the dots and make good ART from your Failures…

BTW, Your Failure Resume is not to be submitted to anyone o…well, except You wish to share stories from it so that others can learn..

Enjoy your week…

E Seun!!!