Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.

How did it
affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
Incident Failure of Magazine, Overconfidence in self, Lack
of belief in teamwork.
Affect You Angry, why couldnt they write like me, sad,
stopped magazine, gave up
Lessons Learnt Even if you do it yourself, it is no fun if
you win at the expense of others, You are not always right.
Haha! You cant just start a magazine tomorrow! my neighbour remarked with a
surprising conviction; it was as if he were announcing a well-known fact. But my youthful
enthusiasm (or ignorance) would not be quelled by such sarcastic remarks or warnings. I
had just read an article in the newspaper about a boy in Africa who ran a daily to educate
his society and I decided immediately: I would start a magazine and become its editor.
Now editor holds many powers and responsibilities that he uses to ensure the
sustainability of his magazine. The editor chooses the articles he feels the reader should
read, and prevent the articles he feels inadequate from being published; the editor
delegates jobs to his journalists and writers and make sure they submit their articles on
time; the editor influences the readers first (and lasting) impression of a movie,
restaurant or travel destination; the editor affects the readers opinion about a public
figure. But I was young and not driven by such complex motives or responsibilities. I
wanted to tell my friends stories and I wanted them to listen.
And thus, in grade 7, I, along with my sister and four of my friends, brought Sparkle to
life. The first issue was published completely with articles written only by the 6 of us. I
dispensed my duties as editor much better than I realized at the time. I ensured that we
had the right balance of articles about environmental issues, local problems, current
books and films, short stories, and comics. And the issue was a resounding success. We
soon got articles and drawings from readers. We ran the magazine fortnightly and our
magazine got its own article my schools magazine after only its second issue. The
success and the energy in our magazine stayed with us and the readers till about grade 8
summer holidays. It was then that our magazine started falling apart.
Till that time, I ensured that we published everything our readers sent us, regardless of
quality. I believed that no one should be deprived of the chance to have their articles in
our magazine. But that summer saw the rise of a rival magazine group. Some others from
my neighbourhood had formed a magazine group called Kid Buzz and they had their
first issue out in January. I read the third issue and noticed the difference. Our editorials
were clearly as good as if not better than theirs, but their other articles were much more
polished than ours, simply because we published every article our readers sent us which
lead to a decrease in quality of some of the articles.
I was in turmoil. I discussed the issue with my team (which was 10 members strong now)
and 8 out of the 10 people (excluding me) decided that we should continue this way. The
last guy vehemently opposed this idea, and when I decided that we would continue this
way, he resigned and joined Kid Buzz. We published the next issues, and our sales
remained about the same as usual. Kid Buzz, on the other hand, rose in popularity. I was
not content. We were the first magazine in the locality, and we would not lose to some
upstarts. It was a fatal mistake.
I decided to take control of our articles. I would ensure that each of our articles was the
best it could be, and that bad articles would be rejected immediately. This decision
resulted in two changes in Sparkle.
Firstly, the articles that my team wrote (that I would have blindly published one year ago)
were forced to be rewritten often three and even four times. This resulted in many
deadlines being missed and many issues being late. We had to make the magazine a
monthly and a little later even a bi-monthly. Many from our team left. And in the end only
four people remained.
Secondly, over 75% of the articles sent by the readers were rejected. This affected many
of the younger readers whose drawings and articles were obviously not the best articles
we got. They were dejected that their works werent published and hence they stopped
buying the magazine and sales began to drop. I decided to take matters in my own
hands. It was the readers fault for not being able to write good articles. I wrote almost
all the articles myself. And since I was the editor, all the articles were published, whether
they were actually good or bad.
This went on for about 5 issues. The sales dropped to ground zero levels, and the work
load on me was too much for me to handle. I realized that the work I was putting into the
magazine was affecting my studies. So, in 2010, Sparkle stopped. Its end was much
more gradual than its beginning which was with a flash of inspiration.
[Reduce the story. Increase the morals]
This failure left a deep impression on me; for a few days I didnt know what to do. I was
angry: at the readers, at my team, at myself. I let it be, and in a month I had forgotten all
about it. When the next issue was supposed to have come out, one boy came up to me
and asked me what happened to the magazine. I was shocked but I managed to suppress
his curiosity. I went back home and thought about everything that had happened since
the beginning: the rise and fall of Sparkle.
And I realized the major flaws in my actions. The whole reason the magazine took off
was because of the readers support, and in my bid to put down the rival magazine, I had
lost sight of that. I had also forgotten that the magazine was a team effort: a magazine
with only an editor would not last very long.
I laughed at my ignorance and at my narcissism. I realized the [WHAT?]
Now, looking back at all this, I can imagine how Pip from Great Expectations would have
felt, narrating his nave deeds to the world. When I decided to start Sparkle I too had
Pips great expectations, but I let those expectations get the better of me. I paid the
price in the end, but I also managed to wrench out some life lessons.
I can only wonder what would happen if I started another magazine now. (Hey!)