Page 106 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

MATH PROFESSOR ORALDO “BUDDY” SAUCEDO ON HOW FAILURE CAN FUEL
SUCCESS

Oraldo “Buddy” Saucedo is a highly recommended math professor
on RateMyProfessors.com; he is a full-time math instructor for the
Dallas County Community College District in Texas. One of his
teaching mottos is “I offer opportunities for success.” Here, Buddy
provides insight into a failure that fueled his success.

“Every once in a while, a student asks me if I have always been
smart—this makes me laugh. I then proceed to tell them about my
initial GPA at Texas A&M University.
“While writing ‘4.0’ on the whiteboard, I say that I was close to
having a 4.0 my first semester. ‘Sounds great, right?’ I ask, pausing
for their reaction. Then I take my eraser and move the decimal
point over to the left. It ends up looking like this: ‘0.4.’
“Yes. It’s true. I failed miserably and was kicked out of the university. Shocking, right? But I did
return and eventually received both my bachelor’s and master’s.
“There are a lot of failure-to-success types out there with similar stories. If you’ve failed in the
past, you may not realize how important that it can be in fueling your success.
“Here are some of the important lessons I’ve learned in my climb to success:

You are not your grade; you are better than that. Grades are indicators of time
management and a rate of success.
Bad grades do not mean you are a bad person.
Procrastination is the death of success.
Focusing on taking small, manageable steps forward and time management are key.
Preparation is key to success.
We all have a failure rate. You will fail. So control your failures. That is why we do
homework—to exhaust our failure rate.
The biggest lie ever is that practice makes perfect. Not true—practice makes you
better.
Practice is where you are supposed to fail.
Practice at home, in class, anytime and anywhere—except on the TEST!
Cramming and passing are not success.
Cramming for tests is the short game with less satisfaction and only temporary
results.
Learning is the long game with life’s biggest rewards.
We should ALWAYS be perpetual learners. Always in ALL WAYS.
Embrace failure. Celebrate each failure.
Thomas Edison renamed his failures: “1,000 ways to NOT create a lightbulb.”
Rename your own failures.
Even zombies get up and try again!
“They say experience is the best teacher. Instead, it should be that failure is the best teacher.
I’ve found that the best learners are the ones who cope best with failure and use it as a learning
tool.”