Category: Mistake

You can’t learn anything from being perfect, so the most valuable thing you can make is a mistake. What looks like a mistake to others has been a milestone in others life. In fact, each mistake teaches you a new lesson which makes you more conscious and persistent in order to follow your dreams. Sometimes people ignore the fact that making mistake can be good for them and just feel frustrated believing that this mistake lead them to failure, while others adopt it as a way to success. Personally, I didn’t expect before that the most inventions that we are using now were done by mistake. We all know that any invention needs to be proven by experiments, rules and many other tools but some of them came mistakenly without previous expectation and have been adopted and taken into consideration as useful, daily and weird inventions. According to Traynor Sean, not all inventions followed the rule-of-thumb of identifying a problem, outlining a solution, testing a solution, and marketing the product. Many every-day objects that we deem “brilliant” were things discovered by mistake (2011). There are many different inventions that were done by mistake and each one has a specific story like what happened in the inventions of chocolate chip cookies, X-rays and penicillin.

The first invention that was done by mistake which became one of the most famous inventions is chocolate chip cookies. People have a great relation with chocolate, it gives them power, energy and it’s very delicious. Chocolate have many different kinds including chocolate chip cookies. In 1930, Ruth Wakefield opened a very popular restaurant called the Toll House Inn, located on the toll road between Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts. While she was trying to make a batch of chocolate cookies for her customers, chocolate chip cookies were born because she didn’t mix the chocolate with the dough (Trynor, 2011). After this invention, she decided to sold the recipe to Nestle in exchange for a life time supply of chocolate chip cookies. Over seven billion chocolate chip cookies are purchased each year and this shows how this invention is important and precious. Finally, nestle company decided to put every bag of chocolate chip cookies sold a variation of Ruth Wakefield original recipe printed on the back as an appreciation for her greatest achievement.

Nobody can imagine that the X-rays invention, which is considered as a medical miracle by some scientists and doctors has come by accident. Many doctors suffered a lot because they were not being able to diagnose some medical cases specially bones until the x-rays invention has been discovered.” A German physicist named William Rontgen was experimenting with different cathodes by tubes in 1895. He saw that even when covered up with cardboard, the tubes caused certain chemicals to glow from across the room. He realized that there were invisible rays that could pass through glass, paper and even skin! He called them x-rays” (Leelerdsakulvong, 2014). Within a year, the first radiology department opened in a Glasgow hospital and the department head produced the first pictures of a kidney stone and a penny lodged in a child’s throat. Shortly after, an American physiologist used x-rays to trace food making its way through the digestive system. X-rays is a new and mysterious form of radiation which led to a revelation in medical imaging.

Besides chocolate chip cookies and x-rays, penicillin is an another invention that came by mistake making a distinction in the medical field. Penicillin was the first antibiotic that doctors used to preserve human body and it was a fault of a messy scientist. People attribute the discovery of penicillin to Alexander Fleming. In 1928, the latter saved bacteria in a beaker; bacteria are small creatures and they cause pain for people; one of the beakers got some mold in it, then he realized that the bacteria were killed because of this mold. The mold is now used as a drug called penicillin (Britsh Science Week, 2002). This drug is used to prevent infection of the heart in patients with certain heart diseases who are having surgery. In addition to that, penicillin is used to treat infections of sinuses, stomach, intestines and kidney. Although the use of penicillin is widespread, but sometimes some issues can occur as any drug, for example: breast-feedings, interactions, kidney disease, methotrexate, phenylketonuria, gastrointestinal and bleeding problems. Not to mention that Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley, and other researchers at England’s Oxford University developed penicillin into the life-saving drug. As a result, Alexander Fleming’s mistake has saved a lot of people’s lives as he contributed to prevent the growth of bacteria and get rid of it as much as possible.

Chocolate chip cookies, X-rays and penicillin are inventions that played significant roles in our daily life and facilitated a lot of things for doctors, scientists and many other people knowing that all these inventions were done by mistake. So, keep your eyes open for the possibilities and keep in mind that not all mistakes can lead to failure but sometimes a mistake can be a starting point for a new story, discovery or even invention… who knows.

The Great Peace Case

Before continuing on the discussion on common mistake, it is important to understand The Great Peace case. In this case, the defendants, Tsavliris Salvage International Ltd, were a company that offered salvaging facilities to ships in the South Indian Ocean that needed assistance. A ship called the Cape Providence required help after it had endured structural damage at sea. The defendants looked for any merchant vessels that were nearby to assist them. The complainants, Great Peace Shipping Ltd, said they were the closest to the ship, being around 30 miles away. On this information, the defendants commissioned the complainants to help the ship. In fact, this was a mistake and the complainants were around 400 miles away from the ship. Since the Cape Providence was in desperate need of help, as it was sinking, the defendants cancelled the contract with the complainants and asked another ship for assistance.

The claimant had sued for their contract fee with the defendants. The defendants argued that the distance from the Cape Providence was a common mistake and this would invalidate the contract that they had for providing assistance. The issue in this case was whether this was a common mistake and if it could void the contract.

It was held that this was not a common mistake that would void the contract between the complainant and defendant. It was a matter of quality of the performance of the contract. The miles did not matter and it did not make the contract impossible to perform. A common mistake requires an element to make contract performance impossible and mileage was not fundamental enough to render the contract void.

Common Mistake

Law on common mistake after The Great Peace case becomes clear and certain because it has been categorised into res extincta, res sua and mistake as to quality. It is clear that for a contract to be void due to common mistake, a common mistake requires an element to make contract performance impossible. Clear cases are given along with each of the category so they can be applied accordingly.

The law of contract often seeks to strike a balance between competing concerns, such as the desire to uphold certainty in contracts, which contrasts with the desire to protect a party who has entered into a bad bargain as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation. In relation to mistake this principle remains unchanged. While the law wants to ensure certainty it also wishes to ensure that most play by the rules. It other words the law intends to be a fair as possible to both parties.

For mistake to be a catalyst for the contract to be void it must fundamentally change the contract meaning the contract no longer resembles the one that parties signed at the beginning. Examples of these the case of Cooper v Phibbs (1867) where party A wanted to buy a boat from party C only to realised that he already owned the boat.

A common mistake is one where the contracting parties make a fundamental error on an important fact that as stated above fundamentally change the contract from the one agreed earlier. They are broken down to separate versions:

• a) Rex Extincta
• b) Res Sua
• c) Mistake As To Quality

Res Extincta

The contract is void if the subject matter of the contract does not exist or has perished at the time the contract has been made. Example of such events are Griffith v Brymer (1903) where the claimant booked a room on the hotel with the intention to use it to witness the coronation procession of the King. However this was no longer possible as the procession was cancelled due the King’s poor health. As you can see the contract “booking the room to see the King procession” would be fundamentally change to just “booking a room for no reason”.

However if the party should had been more careful in providing a service or requesting a service they did not give due regard to for example hiring a vassal to rescue another vassal that is presumed to be in peril based on rumours alone this may be breach of contract if the hiring party did not pay McRae v The Commonwealth Disposals Commission (1950). For example, if the claimant at Griffith v Brymer (1903) had the same intention but he had been mistaken of the date of procession as he did not check the official date or that the procession even existed.

Res Sua

Res sua is perhaps simply explained as the owner of the property mistakenly purchased his own property by mistake. This has already been illustrated earlier in the case of Copper. It is a very simple principle you cannot buy your own property also you cannot buy ownership of a property or pay a tenancy to someone who does not own the property.

Mistake As To Quality

A mistake as to the quality of the subject matter of a contract has been confined to very narrow limits. According to Lord Atkin: ‘A mistake will not affect assent unless it is the mistake of both parties, and is as to the existence of some quality which makes the thing without the quality essentially different from the thing as it was believed to be.’

In cases since Bell v Lever Bros the courts have not been over-ready to find a mistake as to quality to be operative. A funny example is that you bought a robot thinking it can read, you understand read as normal reading as in reading a book to child but the seller thought you meant reading codes to which in both minds you have a different meaning or reading.

Remedies

Where a contract is void for identical mistake, the court exercising its equitable jurisdiction, can: Refuse specific performance; rescind any contractual document between the parties; and impose terms between the parties, in order to do justice. Cooper v Phibbs (1867). Rescission for mistake is subject to the same bars as rescission.

Calls For Reform (The Great Peace)

The Court of Appeal has resisted attempts to implement a more equitable approach to laws within common mistake, Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris (International) Ltd. Stating that it lacks definitive authority and would lead to uncertainty in contract law. Instead they proposed a reform in terms of flexibility in remedies allowing the court to perhaps be allowed more remedial options such as demanding one party to pay damages or perhaps for mistake to be merely voidable for the contract instead of it being absolutely void.

However the courts have no implemented this obiter dicta statements and seemed to lack the willpower to do it. Understandably so as this would change the nature of common mistake a fair deal and may seek Parliament to legislate on the matter.

I hereby submit that according to English law you may void a contract through common by 3 different methods by res extincta (the non-existence of a material subject matter), res sua (buying what is already yours) and mistake to quality which means the mistake of quality was so fundamental that it change the nature of the contract.

In conclusion, it can be seen that after The Great Peace case, the law on common mistake has become clear and certain by categorising common mistake into res extincta, res sue and mistake as to quality. A common mistake is one where the contracting parties make a fundamental error on an important fact that as stated above fundamentally change the contract from the one agreed earlier. Under res extincta, a contract will be void at common law if the subject matter of the agreement is, in fact, non-existent. For res sua, where a person makes a contract to purchase that which, in fact, belongs to him, the contract is void. A mistake as to the quality of the subject matter of a contract has been confined to very narrow limits. According to Lord Atkin: ‘A mistake will not affect assent unless it is the mistake of both parties, and is as to the existence of some quality which makes the thing without the quality essentially different from the thing as it was believed to be. In reference to above, it is clear that the law on common mistake has become clear and certain after The Great Peace case.

To Being Successful As a human, we are bound to make mistakes and learn from them to avoid repeating them in the future. For example, in a math class, especially students tend to make mistakes with numbers and solving the problem. However, students have an eraser to remove the mistake. This gives people the ability to change what is wrong. Life also works the same way. Humans are given opportunities to become a better person. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton tells a story about a boy named Ponyboy who has made plenty of mistakes during his life and learned valuable lessons from them.

Ponyboy lived on the east side of town which was known to be a poor section of the neighborhood. In this neighborhood, he had a gang called ̈Greasers ̈. Ponyboy learned that people can love you, they can be part of your family and people have a rough time in life. While he was in the hospital, he learned the first lesson about individuals that show a very tough acting exterior may just be the ones that actually care. In church, where Ponyboy and Johnny were living after killing Bob. When the church got on fire, Johnny tried to save the kids, and when Dally pushed Ponyboy out, he was injured. When they arrived in the hospital, his brother Darry came to visit, who was always tough on him. Ponyboy never understood why he was so hard on him. He came to realize how much his brother actually loved him when he saw tears well up in his eyes because his brother was hurt. He knew the truth. Darry does have a heart and does truly have feelings.

He assumed he only cared about Sodapop and not him. When Ponyboy states “Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me”(Hinton 98). Ponyboy comes to the shocking realization that his brother Darry has been working so hard and trying to keep him safe but in a confusing way because he was going through his own personal issues and sacrifices. He also realized that there is hidden love inside of a person. Even people that you wouldn’t think are good may have a side to them that you may not know about or get to see very often. However, when you do it’s really special. Darry is this kind of person. It takes a bit longer to see his soft side and he comes off rough, but in times of need, he is there for Ponyboy. Another realization that Ponyboy came to while on the walk home from a movie, is that he should have gone with the four boys, Darry or Sodapop and he realized that blood is not thicker than water. Ponyboy realizes happened when he states “We’re almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well”(Hinton 3). He realizes that they have been together for so long, that they have a relationship beyond friends, they are like 7 boys family even though they are not blood-related. He also realizes that he has a family when he needed them and when he was walking alone from the movie and he thought that he could have called Darry to pick him up or other boys to pick him up.

Another way he learned this lesson was by Johnny. He noticed that Johnny family ́s was not exactly stable and it came across as if they didn’t care about Johnny ́s well being. Johnny parents would constantly argue and not act as a family should. He realized that a connection is what makes a family not a bloodline. A family is who turn to in hard times and good times and he realized he ́s had a family with these 7 boys all along. They nurtured and took care of each other as a family should. Ponyboy also learned that other people go through times just as tough as he does and he should not always complain about it. It could always be worse and he should be grateful for what he has. When Ponyboy and Two-bit were walking to go see Johnny and Two-bit, Randy, the Socs honked at Ponyboy to question him.

The questions about why Johnny and himself saved those kids in the church. When Ponyboy came back to Two-bit and when he asked who he was, he said that he was not a Socs, he is a guy. Also, he learned this lesson, when he said ̈Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guys was human too(Hinton 118). He learned that there are people in the world, that have a lot of problems and a rough time but you can’t see them. When he said that he started to realize that Socs were seen as their enemies and rich people, but that doesn’t mean all Socs are like that and they have a problem like greasers too. He, always learn this lesson from Cherry Valance, a Socs who told him, that not all Greasers are nice like you and not all Socs are mean. This shows that people have a problem and you can ́t tell what they are going through until you experience it.

Overall Ponyboy from “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton, needed to learn these lessons to grow as a human being and have more character depth within the story. He learned a lot of life lessons so quickly like family does not have to be blood-related, those that are tough may actually have a soft side and that those that have money have problems as well and to always look at a situation fully before judging. As humans we all make mistakes whether or not we make realizations as Ponyboy did in the end, we must learn from them and fix those mistakes for next time.

As humans, we are bound to make mistakes. After spending lot of time at workplace, we have tendency to commit one or two mistakes. The first instinct as humans after committing a mistake, is to try to hide it & panic- or runaway from it. This isn’t a good way good to deal with it going forward. Everyone one makes mistakes at some point, how we handle it is what matters.

Here are ways to bounce back after making a major work mistake

Try to Fix the Problem

Before going forward to your superior about your mistake, search deep down if there’s a way to remedy or correct the mistake yourself. If it’s one you can fix without causing more harm than good, then fix it- no one may need to know about it.

If the mistake is far beyond what you can fix, go to someone for attention. While going forward, you should also have different likely solutions in mind.

Apologize- once- to necessary parties

One other instinct after making a mistake is necessary parties and apologizing over and over again. This idea usually comes from a genuine place in our mind But doing it repeatedly can be harmful to you rather than good. Once you make a mistake, just tender an apology once and move on.

Take Responsibility

Once you make a mistake instead of blaming people before or trying to involve them in the matter, take responsibility. Bringing others down won’t help us you. I’ll only get you more enemies at work place. Owning up to your mistake by taking responsibility goes to show how strong your Leadership still is, it can also boost your rep among your co-worker & superior.

Accept the Consequences

Mistakes at times comes with consequences as you could have to stay extra has at work or late during the night to reach out to lots of customer to crosscheck data in a bid to correct an error. Whatever the consequences, do well to remedy your mistakes without complaints. This goes to show how serious you take the mistake instead of just apologizing.

Doing this makes it easy and gives a positive feeling moving on. It is also a great way to show your boss how much of a team player you can be.

Don’t Hide

It can be embarrassing coming out to own up to a mistake especially if it is very severe. Hiding due to shame isn’t a good way to go as it only makes the matter worse. After owning to your mistakes and apologizing, don’t dwell much on it or seclude yourself from the rest in your office or option opt out from contributing at meetings.

Come out of your shame. See mistakes as a teacher, an opportunity to make you get better & wiser.

The ability to speak is one of the English language skills that any foreign language learner will master. The main question coming from someone who wants to learn their foreign language skill is whether or not they can speak English. In Webster New World Dictionary, speaking is to say words orally, to communicate as by talking, to make a request, and to make a speech (Nunan, 1995). At the school or college level. When students learn speaking, many difficulties they face. Which makes them think that learning to speak is not easy. There are some problems for learning speaking, One of them is feel afraid of making mistakes.

For students, it is very influential in the process of learning speaking. Most people don’t want to make mistakes in learning languages, but they do serve an important learning purpose that can’t actually be prevented. As James Joyce said, ‘Discovery portals are failures.’ They guide us to what we are doing wrong and therefore what we need to improve on in order to make progress. We need to know that there are different stages of language learning to better understand this. One stage is to be able to say what you mean so that others will be able to understand you the way you wanted to be understood. Another stage is to say it in a similar fashion if not like a native speaker would do it. Many people also say feel afraid in making mistakes is very negative influence in the process of learning speaking. “The fear of making mistakes has resulted in failure in speaking the English language with other people.” (Muhammad Adil, 2019). You can’t really be blamed for fear of errors with these negative connotations. However, there are also figures who oppose it.

Talk about making mistakes, especially in learning speaking. These difficulties were supported by a research finding by Taiqin (1995) about non- language factors, which showed that ninety-five percent of students said that they had difficulty speaking because they were afraid of making errors in class, they had no idea what to say, they were not confident and comfortable if they made mistakes, and they were not interested with the topics that are given by the lecturers. Gulam Mustaka Ali Khan (2015) says that Most students hesitate to speak English because what others may think if they find the mistake. They can laugh at them or insult them. To be on safe side, they prefer to keep quiet or speak as little as possible. It is true that it can make students feel they don’t want to try to learn speaking again. But if it can be controlled, mistakes like that can be made as a generator of the level of confidence. Because when he made a mistake in front of his friends and then laughed at, if he is able to overcome this with the confident attitude he has, he can divert the error with something else. “Here’s the truth: making mistakes is something we all do. A mistake is unintentional. It doesn’t have to be tied up in emotion or self criticism.

And making mistakes certainly doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.” (Benny Lewis, 2019). The only way in a new language to be good is never to use it. And if you don’t speak your target language, two things are happening: you never build trust in your abilities, and you never get input about where you need to change. Let me say a letter to you. Mistakes are made even by native speakers, teachers, and skilled speakers. Yet, they’re correcting or asking for help from others.

An event that has really affected me in my life is when I got my first detention. I never did see it coming. One minute I was just messing around with my friends, the next I had a detention at quarter past one in the afternoon. I couldn’t believe it. The shame was like a brick to the face. I felt as if had let everyone down but I felt like I had let myself down the most. And this wasn’t a familiar feeling. So this made me start to question myself. Why did this particular event make me feel like this? Was it because I had got caught? No. Was it because it was in front of my friends? I doubt it. Or was it because it wasn’t what I expected from myself? Absolutely! I was disappointed in myself because what I had done went against my own expectations of myself. This led me on to think of what do I really expect of myself, how do they make me feel and how does it affect me now in the present.

When I think about it, what I expect of myself really does influence what I do and, at the time, it also affected how I felt. What I had done made me feel sad and ashamed. Two feelings I don’t feel very often. When my friends get a detention it doesn’t make them feel any of these feelings. In fact, they don’t care very much about getting a detention. But when I get a detention, I begin to feel down, ashamed and sorry for myself. And this doesn’t just happen when I get a detention; it also happens when I misbehave in general. I think this is all down to my high expectations of myself. They really do control how I think and feel during certain situations. And, to be honest, this isn’t really a bad thing because it stops me from making the same bad choices over and over again. In a way, it’s like a line which I should never cross.

Thinking about it a bit more, what I think of myself also has an effect on my expectations. For example, my ambitions. I believe that after I have left school I will go to university, get my qualifications and then get the job that I want. Then, later on, I’ll have a good house, a good car and maybe even have my own family. If I thought very low of myself then I wouldn’t have these ambitions. I quite a lot of myself and I know that if I put a little time, thought and effort into something, I can accomplish anything. Another example is how I treat other people. I think of myself as a kind, caring and friendly person so I expect myself to be kind, caring and friendly towards others too. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be a very nice person and I would think quite low of myself. On reflection, I think quite highly of myself so I also have high expectations of myself as well.

When I look back, I realise that I was actually quite glad that I got a detention because I was beginning to let things go a bit so it actually acted as a wake up call. I was becoming unfocused, unorganised and too relaxed. And this would have been a bad thing for me because I like to be ready for anything that comes my way. This is what I expect of myself: to be ready for anything at all times. I think this is a really good expectation to have for myself because life is unpredictable and you never know what might be around the corner. For example, if I had a test I had to revise for and I wasn’t focused enough to revise then I would fail that test. This is why my expectations are important to me. They keep me on the path to success.

In retrospect, I could have chosen various other experiences to reflect on but I specifically chose this one as it is a prime example of a mistake I have made. Mistakes aren’t one of my expectations and this is one of my drawbacks because everyone makes mistakes (including myself).

Mistakes are something that comes with being human, everybody has made them at one point or another, and most of the time they end up learning an important lesson from them. Sometimes mistakes are good and end up being beneficial, and other times they could be small little mistakes that end badly. Mistakes are not always good, but sometimes even the smallest mistakes, like somebody not tying their shoe when their dad tells them to, could end awfully. Adults are always looking out for others and they know what is best, and it is always important to listen to what they say because it could change outcomes dramatically.

I went over to my friend’s house one spring morning because we hung out quite often and I was bored and had nothing to do. When I got there, his mom told me that he was upstairs in his room. I went up there and opened his bedroom door and I saw something I was not expecting, Hayden had boxes full of rocks scattered everywhere. I was surprised because I loved rocks and I would collect them everywhere I went, but I never knew that my best friend of over 5 years also collected rocks and he had more than I did. I then ran over to my house and had him help me haul my boxes of rocks over to his house so that we could compare and trade.

Once we had gone through all of our rocks we decided that the next day we would sell some of them, because we had so many and we could make some money that we would split. His mom said that she was okay with us going around the block and asking our neighbors if they would like to buy any of our rocks. She even made for us little business cards on her computer and put her phone number down in case anybody was interested in purchasing from us. When I got home I was so excited that I ran downstairs and told my brother because I was just so darn excited. I remember not even being able to fall asleep because of the butterflies in my stomach. I even got up and moved all of my clothes out of my closet and put them in my toy cash register so we could make my closet into our store.

When I got up to go that next morning, I told my dad that Hayden and I were going to ride around the block on our scooters and sell rocks, and my dad said that that was fine, but I needed to bring my helmet. As I was walking out the door, my dad noticed that my shoe was untied and he told me to tie it up before I left. I ignored him and went over to Hayden’s house. Once I got there we got our ‘business cards’ and went door to door showing people the rocks we had. Some guy even felt sorry for us and gave us a dollar. As we were heading back home, we started to ride down a really big hill, and I was going so fast that I forgot how to use my brakes, so I suddenly slammed my foot onto the ground, causing me to come to a sudden halt. My shoelace got stuck in the wheel of the scooter and I continued to go forward, which caused causing me to flip over the handlebars and land on my wrists. It all happened very suddenly, and I was too stunned to move or talk. Hayden ran home to get his mom, and she came and picked me up in her car. When I went home, I told my dad what had happened and he said that I was fine and that I had to go to school the next day.

After school, my mom picked me up and I told her what had happened. She took me to the doctor to see if anything was sprained. All I remember was being scared and hoping that everything was fine. Fear was the only thing I really remember about sitting in that waiting room. When the nurse called me in, they checked me out and noticed that I had a rock stuck in my knee that I had not hadn’t even noticed. They removed the small rock and then they took me for x-rays. They x-rayed my arms and legs and told us to wait in the room for our results. When the doctor walked in, she looked at me and told me that I didn’t break a bone, I broke two, one in each of my wrists, and I was going to have to wear a cast up to my elbow on each arm for a few months.

At first, it was scary breaking both of my wrists, but now, looking back on it, I see that it was not wasn’t so bad and that I was lucky that I had put on a helmet because the doctor said if I hadn’t I probably would have gotten a concussion.

It was also nice during school because I didn’t have to write anything because of my casts. I also learned an important lesson that day, to always listen to adults, because even if it sounds dumb, it will end up helping. The only thing I fully regret is that I broke my wrist selling rocks because I had to tell that story over and over. It is important to know that when adults say something that is a warning, it is important to pay attention, because things could end very badly, even if it’s something really small at first.

I will never forget March 25th, 2016. It was the day that turned my life on its toes. It was the day I was granted the opportunity to pursue a truly unmatchable educational, experiential vision. I was flooded with overwhelming feelings of relief, gratitude, excitement.

The time leading up to my freshman fall quarter was defined by conversations on whether I should be a consultant, an engineer, a designer, an interesting combination of those, or something entirely different. For me, as I understood it, Stanford would eventually bring a special aspect of certainty. Beyond the nebulous anticipation of my own self-fulfillment, I sought to help my family emerge from the cyclical poverty that had devastated us for so long. It was a miracle that I made it out the American Dream and meritocracy had exposed its colors in my favor. I felt that I had a lot I would be representing on the frontlines: my mother and little sister, my home country of Morocco, but oddly enough never myself.

Upon arrival to campus, my ambition only intensified. I played out countless realities in my head of becoming President of the Muslim Student Union, Executive of the ASSU, a member of Cardinal Calypso. On a more grounded note, I considered Management Science and Engineering, Product Design, and Science, Technology, and Society. All of these encompassed the interdisciplinary indulgence I thought was best for me. I always took pride in bridging together fields not necessarily thought to work in conjunction. This unorthodoxy was welcomed at Stanford, and was part of why I fell in love.

I thought studying abroad might be another way to engage my insatiable disposition. I wanted to connect with my inner-self and further explore my religion as a part of my identity. I wanted Stanford to be my avenue, my enabler of raw exploration. A place for me to really learn about the vastness of the world. A place to find out what and who I love. I knew my experience at Stanford wouldn’t be successful if I didn’t grow, and I believe you must be uncomfortable to grow.

This is where I faced the first of my faults. I avoided uncomfortability at all costs. I didn’t realize that being uncomfortable didn’t have to be bad, and that even with a negative connotation it yielded necessary growth. And despite the fact that my dreams spanned miles, I had such a narrow understanding of my identity. It consisted of just a couple pieces I felt I needed to vertically build upon, and I thought I would do so at Stanford. I was a huge dreamer, but scatterbrained. Unsure of how to efficiently pursue the goals that sized me up. Because of these things, I became uprooted.

It was in the heat of the demanding quarter-systemquarter that reality struck and expected me to face it. I felt out of place, like I didn’t belong, like I couldn’t belong, like I was never prepared for such rigor and responsibility. I had endured working three jobs to keep my family afloat and yet the strain I was feeling took a different toll.

The worst mistake I made was clinging to familiarity. I continued doing things I knew I was good at, and I didn’t challenge myself to improve my weaknesses. I was extremely occupied beyond the classroom. As I worked two jobs and served as an active, exemplar member of countless VSOs, neglecting my classes was an inevitable result. To attempt to offset this, I took classes that interested me as opposed to aligning with major tracks and academic progression. My involvement in LSP saved me from immediately crashing and burning. LSP reached out their hand and I didn’t grab back. The literature we read during LSP scared me, too. I thought I too would become a the statistic — another the first-generation, low-income student who dropped out of Stanford.

I felt like I went through my first three quarters in a vacuum. I took it all day by day. I had no sense of time. I didn’t realize how each action would pile upon the last and lead to my current status. I didn’t carefully consider think about whether I was taking a class to fulfill a general eduсation requirement or to progress within a my major track. At the time, I overestimated the time I could set toward experimentation. I should have known that freshman year is an experiment of calculated risk. Testing out courses and extracurriculars, but knowing that each decision could end up helping me in the future. Whether that be taking a class that satisfies multiple general requirements for multiple majors I was interested in or at least completing WAYS in ways that would be beneficial and help me at the end of the day.

My success on campus were borne of my natural strengths. I have a huge, toothy smile and an approachable demeanor. So, networking with people and sustaining positive relationships with my peers came naturally. I diversified the classes I took to encompass all corners of my mind. Any class that tugged at an interest, I tried to enroll in. This painted my transcript with courses from digital art to computer science.

But I hyperextended myself to a dangerous extent. As an active member of nearly twelve VSOs, the possibility of having a minute to dedicate to my coursework just didn’t exist. I overloaded myself with so many things beyond the classroom that they eventually kept me out of class altogether. I was a self-destructive people-pleaser. I suffered when I saw someone unhappy or facing even slight discomfort, and I exuded a hospitality toward others in my space that I didn’t even exude toward myself. Not even three weeks on campus and I found myself employed. I needed the money for various reasons. Back home, things were rough and most of my checks would be directly transferred to my Mom’s bank account.

Stanford’s culture shock for a first-generation student from a low-income background is underrated — even the slightest thing was shakening. Observing students constantly eating off campus and flaunting extraneous gadgets and clothing pressured me into a lifestyle of projecting more than I had. I would try to rent a Zipcar for get-togethers with friends. I felt that I’d bore my friends if I didn’t go out to eat with them, as opposed to eating my (thankfully) paid dining hall meals.

I had crippling mental health. But the worst part is that I didn’t know it. I had showed every sign and symptom of depression, but simply never knew it could be me. Growing up under a roof (thank you, Mama) where I was exposed to high-stress through housing instability and food insecurity, mental health wasn’t prioritized. In response, I developed the most self-compromising coping mechanism: sleep. A means of escape wherein no person, no thing, and no thought can bother you. Whenever I felt challenged or immersed in failure, I ran to my sheets. Time would pass, my problems would snowball into larger, consequential problems, and the vicious cycle got the best of my ever-weakening mentality. I toiled with an awkward balance of hope.

My confusion as to my role at Stanford led to my demise. At one point, I didn’t fully understand the reason of even attending class, receiving good grades, and graduating, when I didn’t understand where it would lead me. I drowned in my thoughts and felt that I had no way out. Ultimately, my academic journey at Stanford was characterized by a lack of consistency.

The letter notifying me of my academic suspension did not come as a surprise. I knew due to my actions and, perhaps more notably, inactions, that I would have to face consequences. And I am thankful I’ve been granted a second chance. The events which took place within the past year have changed me as a person, from my overall morale to my understanding of the identities I possess and roles I carry. Most significant of all, I learned of the profound power of consistency. I primarily worked during my time away from Stanford, first to help support my household, and later to create a foundational platform for regrowth. The apex of this came with Infomineo a research provider to international institutions and companies. Infomineo offered me the opportunity to complete a six-month Marketing and Business Development internship. I would be based abroad, at their Casablanca headquarters. This professional experience with Infomineo has given me immense insight into who I am, who I want to be, what I want to do, where I want to be, and how I need to get there. And this overdue, concrete introspection was made possible by one thing: consistency.

Consistency first manifested itself through a repeating work week, but then began to transform how I understood myself and my capabilities. It was my first real internship experience, so I wasn’t exactly sure where to place my expectations. But, once I solidified my grasp on daily tasks, I tapped into something much greater: the confirmed belief that I possess the capacity to change my behavior. The change started off relatively small, and it still is, but the results have done wonders for me.

First, it was a healthy breakfast stop every morning on my commute (almond butter on a multigrain toast and two boiled eggs, to be exact). Then came a two kilometer run every day. It was much easier for me to locate the motivation to do what’s best for me since it became as simple as slipping it into my defined routine. I would transition each action in slowly, but they would gradually take root.

After I could tangibly acknowledge that I am capable of changing my behavior, I realized massive change is borne of little consistencies. This is a virtue I will carry for the rest of my life, especially at Stanford. Consistently attending a professor’s office hours or routinely setting aside time to review notes outside the classroom. This is where I stand now, feeling accomplished from over four months completed with Infomineo, and ready to tackle Stanford again. This time, with clearer sight of how to accomplish my goals consistently. I feel that I have detected and revealed a new power within me. Consistency creates healthy momentum. It instills willpower.

I took this essay as an opportunity to provide you with the context for my academic shortcomings. I have had an exceedingly difficult time advocating for myself in the past, especially regarding scenarios in which I have little or no control.