Failure

Life is a journey. When we first emerge from our mother’s womb and are introduced into this world, we take our first step on the path of life, a path all of us must travel through, a path that would end only at our deaths. Though we all hope that our journeys would be smooth-sailing, and our paths easy to travel, this is definitely not the case in reality. As much as we wish that it is not so, in real life, life is ridden with obstacles. This path we are bound to travel is strewn with boulders, mountains, valleys. To get to the other side, to continue on on the path of life, we have to get past these obstacles. We can choose to give up, we can choose to avoid it or we can choose to tackle the problems. Sometimes we try, and sometimes we fail. We fall down. The road to success is ahead of us, as long as we get up, and continue on. But it isn’t always easy to get up again. Sometimes we fall hard. It hurts, and we get scared away. We lose our courage, our motivation, and we do not dare try again.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, do you want to be one of those who run away after a fall? Or do you want to be the strong ones who fight on and achieve success? I believe that most of us here would choose the second option. And thus, here I am, to tell you the right way to deal with failure.

The first thing to do is to change our point of view. We have to stop looking at failure in a negative way. People tend to link failure with weakness, and stupidity. I totally disagree with that. Someone who hasn’t tried, and thus doesn’t fail, may think of himself as perfect, and when he thinks that way, he has closed all doors for any growth or improvement. Whenever there is imperfection, there are million chances of improvement. A person keeps on growing, but a so called 'perfect person' just stops growing. He is in this illusion of being perfect which hinders his growth forever. Make yourself positive enough to see the good sides of failure. Mind over matter, if you believe that failure is something bad that should be avoided, it would be bad, and bring you down to your knees. But if you believe that it is another step toward success, that is what it would become, it would bring you to success.

When we meet with failure, our instincts tell us to sit down and nurse our wounds, to not chance being hurt again. Instead of doing that, never give up. No matter how people react to your failure, you should never ever give up. If you start giving up after your every failure, you will see that you will accomplish literally nothing in life. You will start doing something and will quit it forever after you fail in it. In this way, your skills will never be polished. Your dreams will never see the light of day. When Beethoven was young, everybody used to tell him that he has no talent for music. He knew that he will be the best composer after a considerable time. Today everyone knows that he gave the world some of the best music. Decide what your dreams are, what your goals are, and work hard for them. Don’t give up every time you fall down and suffer a scraped knee.

Lastly, learn from your mistakes. See what you have learned from your failures. When you fail to do something, look back and see how much you have learned. You will be surprised to see that you have learned so much that you would not have learnt if you succeeded in the first attempt. Thomas Edison failed approximately 10,000 times while he was trying to invent the light bulb! When people asked him to quit this project, his reply was, "I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...." If you have this kind of attitude, there is no way why you won't be successful. Every failure teaches you something. You just have to see what mistakes you made and learn from them. The more mistakes you make, the smarter you will become. Just don't make the same mistake twice. Learn from your first mistake and don't repeat it. That, is the value of failure.

Every successful person has experienced failures, the past and the present is laden with supporting examples. As Laurence Shames, a writer said, “Success and failure. We think of them as opposites, but they're really not. They're companions.” If you are looking for a journey without falling down, you will find that not only would it give you no success, but it is also impossible to attain. There will always be failures in life. What matters is how you choose to deal with it. Do you hide and run away? Or do you view it as an opportunity to improve, do you fight on, do you learn? Live a life without achieving anything? Or a life of success, one you can look back upon and be proud of?