Yesterday my 5 year old neighbor was very quiet and not his normal mischievous self. My curiosity took me to him and I asked him what is the matter with him, when he told me the cause of his worry I was astonished and taken aback. He said, “I am scared that I may fail in one of my examinations!!!” What drew upon me later is that the fear to fail is often imbibed in us right from childhood. Maybe it’s the fear to not fail that takes many of us towards success rather than the burning fire to succeed. The fear to fail is what we live with right from childhood.
Is failure really that poisonous?? Is failure the devil in our lives? Then why do we keep Thomas Edison in such high regard. Only because even failure couldn’t stop him. After failing thousand times he still kept trying and succeeded. All these great men have taught us that failure is a silent teacher which keeps teaching us until we are perfect and then we achieve success. Wilma Rudolph is another example of great spirit, a girl who had polio in her childhood went on to become the fastest women to run on earth only after tasting failure in the initial stages.
Then why are we afraid of failure? Isn’t failure the ladder to success? When we learn to ride a bicycle in the initial learning stage we lose balance and fall down but ultimately with practice we become good riders. We all should remember this experience and keep it in mind whenever in life we taste failure. We fall only to get up and rise. The waves recede back only to hit the shores again. Throughout are life we taste failure only to become successful. We should remember that our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
The important thing in life is to learn, to become a good person and have a wonderful life. Many of life’s failures dishearten us whether that is a failed relationship, failed career; failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success. It is an indication to make things right. Often our plans and dreams are unsuccessful but we should take it in our stride and move on for better plans and a bright future.
The point I am trying to make here is not that we should be carefree and keep failing but keep a positive attitude and take every failure in life as learning and face the challenge it offers instead of getting scared and running away from it. As students we face many challenges in our student life and handle every situation differently. We often our juggling between family, friends and studies. At times small mistakes lead us to situations where we are stuck and lose confidence and crumble down but friends this is the time to stand up and face it. Failure is often result of our lies, negligence, wrong attitude, approach, behavior, trust, etc. We choose for ourselves our path and method gives us the result.
We all are one day going to enter what we call the corporate world as employees, professionals, entrepreneurs, etc. it is no different from us. Everyone fears failure. But breakthroughs depend on it. The best companies embrace it and learn from it and so do individuals. Small failures ultimately are the reason for a big success. It is all about how we adapt to a situation and our approach. An optimist turns a failure into success and a pessimist does the opposite. It is all about our attitude in life. Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can’t be done. Often a positive attitude brings about a pleasant and friendly atmosphere. A positive attitude helps in personal as well as professional life. All of us should develop a positive attitude in life as our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us.
I wish you all a very happy and successful future.
– By Anjani Nautiyal
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