Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again and this time more intelligently. It is in fact a stepping stone to success.
One should remember that most great people have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. Walt Disney, J. K. Rowling, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Amitabh Bachchan are some of the most prominent ‘successful failures’ who failed before they received accolades by their glorious success.
We all love to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. Let’s look into some powerful lessons that failure can teach and instill in us-
- Experience– History is witness that world’s great success stories have sprouted from failure. All great inventors, scientists, architects, designers, painters have tasted success after many bouts of failure. Failure gives an invaluable firsthand experience that stems from a thousand unsuccessful attempts. The accumulated knowledge gained as a result of these experiences helps one develop a deeper understanding to create something better, more durable and valuable.
- Humility- Even though painful, failure gives us a humility learning experience. This humility can be harnessed to overcome our bullheaded approach that cost failure in the first place. Valuable lesson learned is that in order to be successful, one must show humility.
- Resilience– Failure gives you a chance to re-evaluate, adapt and modify your approach-or even obliterate the old approach totally and start anew. Failure helps one build this resilience. Greater success breeds from greater resilience.
- Self analysis– Failure is the base of reflection of how much time and efforts you have invested in completing a task. In the light of failure, comes the realization of how hard the task might really be and how much commitment it entails from your end.
- Motivation– Viewing things from a positive perspective, failure can inspire us. It can be a great source of motivation. The founder of the iconic Apple company, Steve Jobs was fired from the first company he started. In his own words, “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”
Simply put-your passion for work should exceed the disappointment of failure.
Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes (failures). It is rightly said, “the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall!”
Do not fall by failure, but get fuelled by failure!
