S01E07: Right Shoe, Wrong Foot – Kim Likier
Kristin Brynteson learns that success is contextual through an interview with Kim Likier.
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KB: This is Failure Bites, and I'm your host Kristin Brynteson. When you are good at something, everything seems to just click. It feels right. You know you're good. The world knows you're good. Life is good. Then you try those mad skills somewhere new, and you find they're not so good anymore. It's like trying to roller skate in an ice rink; the skills are similar, but they just don't transfer like you'd hope. In this episode, we hear from Kim Likier about how their smooth sailing unexpectedly became a face-plant. Kim is a multi-NIU-alum and the media associate for NIU STEAM. They are not only the Failure Bites audio technician but also a co-creator.
KL: I went to law school directly after undergrad. I was pretty confident because, y'know, I enjoy school work, reading a lot doesn't bother me, and I think I'm a pretty strong writer. I mean, I consistently scored well in English courses, and I worked for half a decade as a writing coach, first in undergrad and then in law school. If there was one thing in the world that I knew I was good at, it was writing. But in the first year of law school, students were required to take two classes on legal writing. I walked in thinking I'd have a pretty decent time. I mean, yeah, I'd have to figure out what I was writing, but the actual syntax and grammar should have been right up my alley.
So, when I got my first paper back with very poor marks, I was real confused. Then, I was utterly depressed when the professor used my paper as an example of poor work. My name wasn't on it, but it still drained all the happiness from my being to see my paper being touted around as what not to do. I got my next paper back with a similarly low grade. It really hit my ego hard. Had I never been a good writer in the first place? I tried my hardest to learn legal writing, but it just never clicked for me.
After law school, I did not become an attorney. Instead, I continued graduate level work by earning my master’s in communication. Back in my native habitat, I was able to score well and feel confident again--almost like I could do a writing. It wasn't that I was bad at writing, it's that I wasn't suited for the specific type. It was like I was trying to put my right foot into the left shoe.
KB: Nothing bruises the ego more than when we epically fail at something we thought we were epically good at. And when that epic fail is done in a somewhat public manner, well, that can mark us permanently. It leaves us questioning our very foundation. But as we say here at Failure Bites, failing does not make you a failure. You might need to recontextualize and try again. Put back on those roller skates, get out of the ice rink, and hit the pavement rolling. I'm Kristin Brynteson. Subscribe today on the platform of your choice, and we want to hear from you. Leave us a comment or contact us at NIU STEAM to share your own Failure Bites story. Thank you for listening to the Failure Bites podcast. This podcast was produced by NIU STEAM at Northern Illinois University. Your future, our focus.
