I think by now you will know that I love a good title to grab your attention. This one, however, is not an analogy but an actual situation I found myself in.
Two weeks ago I visited Des Moines, the capital of Iowa. I had never visited the state before and I was excited to see the midwest of the USA. I was there for 4 days in total, and on Day 2, I was lucky enough to experience an Iowa snowstorm. It snowed heavily overnight, and power was even lost to my hotel for a couple of hours in the early morning. In total there were around 6 inches of snow, with some rural areas having even more than this.
I arrive at training the next day and everyone was there, even one delegate whose car had gone off the road and had to be towed away. She simply borrowed her parent’s car and drove in. Now, this attitude was wild to me, as here in the UK a few inches of snow and everything is cancelled, schools are shut, and definitely, no in-person training is running.
I asked them if this was a lot of snow in Des Moines and they said no this was a light scattering, they had around 15 inches in December and it was -30 temperatures. Even then apparently the schools were not closed, they only really do this at around -40 degrees Fahrenheit!
Although this is just not something I can ever see happening here in the UK where we just cannot cope with extremes in weather. I have to be impressed by the resilience of the Iowans (is this even a word!?) even when there is just a little snow or rain it can be very difficult to force myself to leave the house!
This got me thinking about CIPS, and as results have just come out – the level of resilience you have to have as a student who fails an exam. It’s a horrible feeling and it can be made worse if you are surrounded by colleagues or other students who passed. I always say that you can take failure one of two ways.
- You can give up and not put yourself through the experience again, or
- You can not let CIPS beat you, and do everything you can in your resit to get the results you deserve.
So I say to you, be more Iowan! (See I’m now making this a word…) do not accept defeat, you can overcome this challenge, just like you have overcome every other difficulty in your life. It could be that you need a better support system. If you would like me to help you pass that exam then get in touch, and fill in our enquiry forms below. (Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the enquiry form)
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Here’s to the next set of results being happy ones for all of you!
