The 57-minute lesson on failure we all needed

When life gives you bagels, don't think you're toast

What’s the worst hour you’ve ever had at work? Ooh so many options to choose from. So many heartwarming memories.

For me, it’s probably a toss up between a) the time, years ago, that a male colleague spent an entire meeting belittling my ideas and trying to humiliate me in front of my boss, to the extent that I had to scuttle away and hide furiously in the loos; b) the time I almost talked myself out of a pay rise because I’d misunderstood the tax implications (do not ask); or c) the time a celebrity interviewee abruptly terminated our conversation because they didn’t like the direction of my questions.

That last one taught me a lot. After the phone line had gone dead, my instinct was to blame myself. I spent a desperate hour, pacing around a hotel room, convinced that my career was over because I had failed to make it work. I’d totally messed up. Failed, big time. I felt embarrassed and inadequate.

For the first time in my career I had nothing to show for my efforts and no article. Eek. Yes, that was one fact and it was objectively a failure. But there were others, which I’m going to share with you now and which I think are the first steps to turning ‘I’ve failed it’s all over’ into ‘That didn’t go well, this time.’ And which - probably - Amanda Anisimova, who lost her first Wimbledon final in just 57 minutes at the weekend, will also be using a lot this week…