Can
you recollect?-
The
last time you had to struggle enormously?
A time when you barely finished your project,
assignment and were left with nothing but exhaustion, frustration and
unhappiness.
A
time when you thought, “This is it. I can’t do it anymore.”
I
bet you can. In fact, I bet you can think of more than one such incident.
Why
is this?
Even
though we all want to run, or even gallop towards success, often when we think
about some of the greatest moments in our lives, it’s not success that we
recollect, it our failures, our weaknesses and our breakdowns. Does this mean that we are a breed of
thoroughly pessimistic and masochistic people who give more weightage to
failures than accomplishments? Maybe… Maybe not! But if we do, there is absolutely nothing
wrong with it. Because these are the moments when we decided not to back down,
to learn and to grow. Even though we might have struggled at one point of time,
we overcame our hurdles and can now look back and feel satisfied, maybe even surprised
at the way we conquered our impediments.
One
of the greatest authors of our time and a personal favourite of mine, J.K
Rowling gave the following words of wisdom at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard
Alumni Association:
“You
might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It
is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so
cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you
fail by default.”
When
one hears her name, one cannot possibly fathom her ever failing at something.
After all she is United Kingdom's best-selling author, with sales in excess of
£238m. But in her own words, she has experienced failure at a, ‘grand scale’.
Rowling’s
success came after her various bouts with failure and she wasn’t the only one.
The King of Cartoons:
Walt Disney’s first animation company went bankrupt. A newspaper editor fired
him for, ‘lacking imagination’ and ‘having no original ideas’. His theme park
idea was trashed 302 times. But he
never gave up.
Vincent Van Gogh:
He only sold one painting in his lifetime that too, to a friend. In spite of
that he kept painting and finished over 800 pieces. Today, his most expensive
painting is valued at $142.7 million.
Michael Jordan:
One of the world’s greatest basketball players, Jordan’s name is synonymous
with basketball. However, he was cut from his high school basketball team but
he did not let this failure deter him.
Thomas Edison:
This list would be incomplete without the man who gave us many inventions
including the light bulb. He too, never ever gave up.
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Young Beethoven wasn’t good at playing the violin and neglected to practice as
he preferred to work on his own compositions. Despite his love of composing,
his teachers felt he was hopeless and would never succeed with the violin or in
composing. Beethoven kept plugging along, and composed some of the best symphonies
of all time–five of them while he was completely deaf.
As
is evident from the above list, failure hits us all. The more we try to avoid
it, the more it latches onto us like a parasite draining us of our strength,
enthusiasm and happiness. The fault however, may lie within us. We are always
trying to dodge failure, elude and escape it. But for once, try and embrace it.
When you stumble upon failure, or make a mistake, it’s imperative to accept it
and understand that it is absolutely acceptable to fail. Don’t make your
mistakes, ‘an end of my life tragic melodrama’. Acknowledge that you did not
succeed this time and that it is perfectly alright. Do not let the people or the
situation around you make you feel dejected and unhappy. 
Part
of accepting failure is also accepting that you may be at fault. Do not pin
your failures on, ‘fate’, ‘circumstances’, other people or the almighty. He has
enough things to take care of and does not have the time to ensure that you
fail in every undertaking that you take. Instead of accusing and attributing
your failure to any and everything else, take a step back. Try to analyse why
you did not accomplish your goal and where you might have gone wrong. 
Do
not relinquish at this stage. You might feel desolate and depressed. After all
it is not easy accepting one’s own faults or perhaps finding faults where there
aren’t any, (as in the case of Rowling). But Do Not Give Up. Find the courage
to move on. Find a reason to move on. What’s more, you don’t have to do this
alone. Ask for help. It maybe for ideas, other’s views and opinions or simply
for emotional support from friends and family. Don’t shun your helpers.
Once
you find the reason to move ahead (and you will find it), re-evaluate your
objectives. If they are still the same, great. If not, think clearly and deeply
about what exactly you want. Easier said than done. However, if you stay true
to yourself you will discover it.
After
you find your goal, plan, and plan well. Your previous failures and mistakes
have already cut your work short. They have taught you the right from the
wrong, what exactly to avoid, helped you gain a deeper understanding and
provided you with the knowledge that you seek. But most importantly, if you are
at this step, your failures have taught you to be resilient and given you an
opportunity to grow and learn some more. They have given you the power to be a
fighter and a survivor. Use it well.
Follow
through your plan, soar above all the obstacles because now you are ready to
run and bolt towards your success.
Always remember that failure and success are two sides of the same
coin. In life’s toss you can never
predict which side the coin will land on. Don’t let a series of successes fool
you. Always be prepared to taste some disappointments and at the same time
remember to not give up and face the challenges head on. It’s really one of
those simple truths of life: To succeed,
you must fail.
So
next time when you find yourself on a cliff overlooking a sea of disasters,
mistakes and failures, here’s what you should do.
Close your eyes, take a
deep breath and JUMP.
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