Questions for Failed Events

Questions that can help us to know when we have sufficiently ‘tried’ an event and should possibly consider another direction different than the one that lead us to the failed event could include the following:

1. Am I really passionate about this pursuit? 2. Do I possess the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual abilities for success at the desired level? If not, how do I develop them? 3. Am I organized, and have I tracked and reflected on my past failed events? 4. Do I have sufficient resources? 5. Am I persistent, tolerant and dedicated to the cause? Assessing the Outcomes (i.e. when do we move forward – or backward?) Several methods are available for addressing the outcomes of a failed event and our subsequent actions. The following list represents several parameters to consider. Be proactive. As good Piagetian constructivists, many of us have learned the signs of certain events and can intervene prior to the outcome. In this proactive approach, we not only may delay or possibly detour the failed event, but more importantly, we will most likely create and encounter a completely different type of failed event (how exciting!). Be insightful and fully prepared. An outcome of being proactive is the ability to build our insight so that we are as prepared to embrace the failed event as we can be. The models of therapy above can serve as the tools for this insight, giving us the ability to collect data on ourselves and our surroundings and, maybe most importantly, using the data specifically and individually to develop our skills at both addressing the failed event and coping with those things which we cannot address or change. Self regulated therapy. Another acquired skill can greatly assist assessing the outcomes of a failed event on a real time and remedial basis: our ability to self-regulate. Zimmerman (1989) defines self-regulated strategies as actions directed at acquiring information that involve agency, purpose, and instrumentality perceptions. Strategies include self-evaluation, organizing and transforming, goal-setting and planning, seeking information, keeping records and monitoring, environmental structuring, self cons-equating, rehearsing and memorizing, seeking social assistance, and reviewing records. Self-regulated learning is not a mental ability, such as intelligence; rather, it is the self-directive process through which we can transform our mental abilities into skills (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1998). Be highly Self-Reflective. Albert Bandura (1977) studied observational learning as it pertained to self-reflection and he highlighted self-observation as a key step. In association, he observed that we possess a self-system that enables us to exercise a measure of control over our thoughts, feelings, motivation, and actions, which provides reference mechanisms and a set of sub functions for perceiving, regulating, and evaluating behavior. Through self-reflection, individuals evaluate their own experiences and thought processes. Bandura (1986) argued that self-reflection is the most uniquely human characteristic. Self-reflective judgments include perceptions of self-efficacy, as well as beliefs in one’s capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations. The better able we are to be self-reflective, the more powerfully our failed events can lead to the type of outcomes we need (recall, need in this context does not necessarily mean enjoy). Document our activities and prepare a plan of actions based on data. For those overly organized folk, a systematic method for assessing the outcomes of failed events leans heavily on gathering quantitative data, comparing it to prior results, and making decisions based on the best-case scenario. Documentation could include a ‘pre-assessment’ of one’s abilities, followed by what educational researchers would call the ‘treatment’, which in most cases would be the interaction of the failed event environment. The next steps are collecting data following the event and taking a ‘post-assessment.’ The post-assessment data can be compared to the ‘pre-assessment’ data and then specific items can be analyzed for their differential. This task may seem arduous, and not for many. However, many of us actually take this approach in an informal way. Our bodies are phenomenal data collection instruments and they collect inconspicuous data at all times of the day. We may wish to focus this effort on a specific event and document more of this data, which increases our awareness and enables subsequent comparisons more easily and understandably. This is especially true in relation to the actions/reactions that we might take following a failed event. Forms of documentation may include an inventory list of our emotional, financial, or other status, which we can track through time, experiences, and connections in order to improve the outcomes following each event. An example is that people who have failed to lose weight can succeed when they begin to explicitly and accurately record calorie intake. Use proven assessment instruments. Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) has created twelve steps to recovery, which many addicts have found to be a healthy way to address a failed event. We may wish to use this process or modify it, or even develop an individualized to use in a systematic way so that we can realize we are working towards a goal. Many of us like ‘to do’ lists, and find ourselves more productive when we are able to focus, check off, and move on to another item on the list. This approach is a concrete method for assessing our outcomes of a failed event. Understand rubrics and qualitative measurements. Those who are less analytical and prefer a humanistic method than lists and steps for assessing outcomes can create a ‘rubric’, which is a list of guidelines that describe the activity. Most importantly, a rubric details specific attributes of success indicators. By developing and using a rubric, the qualitative person can approximately translate a relatively qualitative, descriptive failed event into a quantitative measurement. These rubrics can take various styles, degrees of specificity, and ways of processing information. A supplement to self-developed rubrics are professionally-developed assessment instruments like Signature Strengths and Emotional Intelligence. The Signature Strengths questionnaire is one of several self-assessments available from the Institute for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. The questionnaire is free to take online and it assesses the strengths that we can use for responding to failed events. It is located at http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx. The Emotional Intelligence is the capability to detect and display emotion, to understand and use emotions for growth. Measures assess emotional traits such as coping, emotional regulation, responsibility and empathy some of which parallel characteristics that assist us in healthy and constructive responses to failed events. Measures that are freely available include Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), available at http://www.psychometriclab.com An alternate possible action when experiencing a failed event is to simply dwell in it. Yes, hold tight, stay in the event and dwell, absorb, possibly even enjoy it. Although this response may sound odd or a bit defeatist, it can be a healthy decision. Instead of being reactionary immediately following a recognized failed event, which may produce a quick, less than enduring result, we may decide to take a breath, allow the experience to fully envelope us and then make an informed decision. During this sequence, we need to be actively and analytically collecting data on the failed event. Like a scientist, we note everything about the failed event – time, patterns, variables, and constants – both quantitative and qualitative information on the entire experience. We create hypotheses, problem statements, and follow a good science process of thought including observation, communicating, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction. Many people believe they are not science-oriented, but when it comes to your life, everyone is an effective social scientist. Ultimately, we can all identify variables; acquire and process data; begin an investigation; construct a hypothesis; operationally define our specific situation; design an investigation; and experiment, as we pose a question, identifying variables, formulating hypotheses, making operational definitions, designing an investigation, conducting trials, collecting data and interpreting data. Taking this approach to science on a personal level might also enable us to embrace the humanistic side to scientific endeavors. We are constantly making decisions – during these times, we either avoid high-risk failures or create on-going aversions to them. These intersection zones can be viewed as potential therapy points. At the intersection, we quickly ask ourselves how we know what we know, how we know how/when to change directions, what ways we can identify the change and subsequent needs, how we can move in the new direction intentionally and with purpose and how we will fully prepare for the outcomes and dealing with them.