It Ain't Over, Till it's Over

A couple months ago I entered a photo contest on Fossil.com's website. Initial entries were submitted during the month of May and then Fossil's marketing team selected the finalists. I was fortunate enough to have my photo selected as a finalist. The contest winners would be chosen by votes cast through the website in the first couple weeks of June.

Despite a strong start and numerous tweets and facebook status reminders to vote, after the first week I was about 1000 votes behind the top 5. With only 6 days left of voting, more than 2000 votes separated my entry from the supposed leaders. At that point I gave up. I stopped voting and I stopped reminding everyone to vote.

This action, or lack there of, is not charactistic of me. I rarely give up and frequently preach to others to push on for success until the end of the journey. Many people I work with probably get annoyed with me and my constant push, push, push. So it is in this context that it is strange that I would throw in the towel so early in this contest. How ironic is it then that when the contest finished, my photo had gained in votes and finished in 2nd place?! While I am very happy with 2nd place, what really bugs me is that I probably could have won the whole thing if I would have followed my own advice and push on until the end. Serves me right for quiting early.