The gang from Sixteenth Productions tell us about their podcast, The Wooden Spoon, and their experiences with failure and success.
On the podcast, The Wooden Spoon, Jade Bowler, Eve Cornwell, Jack Edwards and Ruby Granger discuss topics, such as success, failure and, most of all, living a successful life after graduation. The wooden spoon is normally a symbol of coming last in a race, but they see it as a tool that can be utilised and become something useful. The team told TenEighty that they wanted to “inspire the younger generation” by using a medium that’s generally used by older people.
“We realised that the topic of failure and success is quite relevant and it hasn’t been discussed especially by young people. Sometimes it’s a bit of a stigma for young people to talk about failure.”
What does it mean to be successful beyond the books? Four students, @unjaded_jade, @Evecornwell, @rubygranger8, and @jackbenedwards, explore mental health, leadership, failure, and more. ➞ https://t.co/SRnKUUhCQ1 pic.twitter.com/CQ6l2DdCDF
— Anchor (@anchor) February 26, 2019
Jade told us that rejection comes to her mind when thinking of a personal “wooden spoon” moment, “Feeling like you’ve come last, even though it’s not a competition at all. The self-doubt and everything that came with being rejected from my top choice university, that’s definitely my ‘wooden spoon’ moment.”
On the topic of failure, the YouTubers said, “It can be dangerous sometimes to label something as your biggest failure because that makes it sound like there can be no success in it at all and that’s one stigma that we’re trying to overcome on the podcast.
“When something happens, immediately, that feels like the biggest failure in that moment, so it’s only really with retrospect that you can look back and realise that it wasn’t a big failure at all. Your biggest failure is very time sensitive.”
Their advice for dealing with failure is to not feel bad about it:
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. Embracing how you feel in the moment and know that it will be okay in retrospect. You have to be fair to yourself and look after yourself. When you face the initial failure allow yourself to be sad about it because if it mattered to you, you have to acknowledge that and then start moving on otherwise it will bottle up.”
The team is hoping that with this podcast they’ll teach young people that it’s okay to fail, “It’s okay to sometimes feel like you’re not the best and it’s okay to feel like things aren’t okay.”
Jack, Eve, Jade and Ruby wrapped season one of The Wooden Spoon on 10 April. You can listen to the podcast on iTunes or PodBean.
Want more?
Find out which YouTubers are featured in BBC’s Talent Works podcast. Alternatively, you can read our interview with Patrick Starrr, where he talks about VidCon London and being LGBTQ.
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