What's it like at the top of the bell curve?

At work, one of our major business partners, one of the big ones that we jump and do a lot of work for, basically wasted 6 months of my time.  Personally, it wasn't actually a waste because I used the opportunity to learn Android.  Officially, and concerning my career within this company, it was a giant waste of time that set my career back by 6 months.  I'll have to hide how little that bothers me.