1. ‘Failure should not be seen as anything else but an opportunity to learn.

’ Write about an
occasion when this was true for you.

Intro:
• An ancient Chinese proverb says 'failure is the mother of success'.
• To the sincere learner, one may easily bring to mind the myriad of successful innovations
birthed from Thomas Edison's 'failures'.
• I am no exception to discovering how I have myself benefitted, in the area of cooking
Hokkien mee (noodles)

Body:
1. Failure encountered
• It appeared to be a very routine task from taking quick glances at hawkers selling this
dish.
• Spices insufficient --> taste was rather bland
• Noodles boiled too long --> becoming soggy
• Wok was put over the fire for a prolonged time --> causing the dish to be charred

2. I exercised patience and asked for feedback from an experienced chef

◦ The chef taught me techniques including:
▪ Warming ingredients requiring a longer heating time.
▪ Also, spices that had been missing from my recipe were now appended to the receipe
▪ Adding in the noodles last.
◦ At times, I felt too inadequate and wanted to surrender to despondency. However, I gave
myself a chance upon having the chef's slogan 'I can do it so can you.' playing in my
mind.

3. The outcome from the learning experience

◦ The next time, the dish was more palatable, and the noodles and ingredients turned out
with a better appearance.
◦ However, this was a far cry from the chef's standards.
◦ (Changes done progressively until a very high standard was attained.)

Conclusion:
• Indeed, the adage 'before we succeed, we must learn to fail' has suited me well.
• This experience has only culminated in me having a positive attitude when I fail.