Disappointment, Desire and Drive

Sketchnotes from the Failure Lab

Distance, Allegra Villarreal, hand-drawn illustration, 2023.

A few years ago, I attended a conference in a massive convention center with far too many options for breakout sessions. The agenda was like a chocolate box - every title was intriguing, all themes resonant to my personal or professional life. I wanted to attend them all. I divided my time as best I could, and slipped into “Part II” of one that looked particularly compelling. I sat next to a woman, and asked, “how was the first part?” She sighed and then said: “I’ve been on this earth for 52 years and I’m still working on managing my disappointment.” I never forgot those words because they were both witty and profound - aren’t we all here, wrestling with our desires, disappointments and the space between?

This week and last, in one of my day jobs, I had the pleasure of experiencing workshops by the Failure Lab, as facilitated by Chrissy Heyne. Failure is often what happens in the gap between what we want to do, and what are able to—missing deadlines, directives, goals. Or not quite meeting the expectations of ourselves, our close ones, our society. In education, failure is sometimes framed as a “gift” as in the phrase “fail forward.” For all the bows and ribbons, it still stings. And we still have to manage our response to it.

Last week, I wrote about notetaking, and mentioned a personal affinity for sketchnoting, especially during workshops. It has actually been a long while since I engaged in this practice but I pushed myself to capture all that was salient both in words and image from the sessions I attended. I’m sharing the insights I gleaned with you today. Hope you enjoy!

3 Things Newly Noted

1. Ended up coming down with illness yesterday and am writing from bed (hence the Saturday posting). Sipping on a re-discovered favorite tea, black keemun with rose-petals. And a spoonful of honey.

2. Still mulling the impacts of AI on the classroom; this recently released database from Harvard features real-world assignments are pretty cool.

3. In prepping this article, I found this cool listicle of lesser-known Tedx Talks on the subject of failure. Happy watching!

   See you next Friday!

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