By Sneha Barua
Yes, you’ve read it right. That’s what I would tell you if you say that you are afraid of failure.
I know you must be thinking what kind of a crazy ass person says that instead of saying soothing anodynes like “don’t worry dear, everything will be alright.”
But, guess what, it is true!
Failures don’t break you; they actually make you or rather push you towards making shit happen.
Most people are scared to death of failing in something that they want to achieve with all their heart.
Well, we can’t blame them, can we? I wouldn’t say that I am not scared of failing to do something. That would be bullshit because I am damn sacred.
When you fail in something all hell breaks loose; you think that it’s the worst thing that could ever happen. Self-confidence takes a back seat. Fear of not achieving anything in life floats before your heavy, teary eyes.
But, hey, trust me; it’s not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, it’s the best thing that could happen to you!
Wait, hear me out first.
Failure gives you a setback, a point from where you can watch and analyze where you went wrong. It gives you a new perspective to look at things. You realize your mistakes, get to know the reasons you failed and then you try harder AGAIN.
Yes, failures are blessings in disguise but only when you don’t stop there. As Winston Churchill aptly said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” That is the magic boon of a failure. It teaches you perseverance. It teaches you to never give up and stop trying no matter what.
I know what you must be thinking. What kind of philosophical bullshit is this.
Easier said than done, I agree. But, I have got facts too.
You all must be crazy fans of Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Well, who isn’t? I’ll tell you what.
The creator of this fictional character who went on to capture billions of young hearts, J.K. Rowling, was a failure herself at one point in her life!
A young divorcee, a lone parent, jobless and penniless Rowling was the biggest failure she knew. Battling with depression and suicidal tendencies, she struggled to keep herself and her child alive.
But, guess what, she didn’t give up. She did the one thing she knew she had to. She pursued her dream by writing Harry Potter. That’s not all. Her manuscript was rejected by all the major publishing houses in Britain until Bloomsbury finally agreed to publish it.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Each book of the Harry Potter series has sold over 450 million copies throughout the world! Isn’t that crazy?
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I would like to quote her from her commencement speech in Harvard University, 2008 which is one of the best speeches I have ever heard: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might not have lived at all – that makes you a failure by default.”
Wait, I’ll give you another example.
I’m sure you love KFC. Isn’t it ‘finger lickin good?’
Well, KFC’s founder Colonel Harland Sanders was not successful from the very start.
He was fired from multiple jobs before starting his own restaurant. His marriage was a failure. He was broke at the ripe age of 65! Imagine that!
But, that didn’t stop him from trying. He went door-to-door selling his chicken recipe to his neighbors in Kentucky before he established KFC. And then guess what, he became a billionaire.
I can give you hundreds of such inspiring tales which will make you kick my ass later, but my point here is that failures are inevitable.
Life is tough and complicated.
What you need to succeed is not an extraordinary talent pool or brains like Einstein, but the attitude containing the 3 P’s: Persistence, Perseverance and Patience. And I can write it down on paper that nothing or nobody can stop you from achieving what you desire.
Image Credits: Google Images
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Very nicely written!!
Very nicely written!!
Nice