Lessons from failure

Ashok Sharma
Failure, in general parlance, means ‘lack of success’. But it is indispensable to success that it is called ‘the stepping stone to success’. It is more an idea that a person tried something and for whatever reason, it didnot work.It is equally possible that it could have been the fault of the circumstances or the situation and not the fault of the person.It teaches us that a certain approch may not be ideal for a specific situation and that there are better options to achieve our goal.Thus, it must be remembered that failure is an integral part of the process of success and self realization.It is a great teacher,which teaches us some of the most important lessons of life.It must be kept in mind that there is no person in the world who has not suffered failure at one time or the other in his life.If viewed in the right perspective,the experience of failure can be both enlightening and motivating. Learning from mistakes and working harder to achieve our goals are both important ingredients of success.
Despite the fact that failure is an inseparable part of success and that making mistakes is not a big deal as long as one learns from them and avoids repeating them,a large number of people make the deadly mistake of accepting failure as final.They forget that if a man has never made a mistske,he has made no discovery and that each time the people fail,their fear of failure becomes smaller which allows them to take on even bigger challanges.They ought to own up their mistakes,push themselves harder and not underestimate themselves. They ought not to give up and believe that with each failure,they are getting one step closer to success.They should consider failure as a blessing in disguise and learn the valuable lesson which they otherwise couldn’t have learnt. It is a natural fact that the cycle of good fortune and bad fortune goes on in the wheels of life. If ill fortune comes today, the opposite may come in the next turn of the wheel.Therefore,failure may be regarded as temporary defeat which teaches us the lesson that we are heading in the wrong direction and it is time that we followed a different course to achieve our objective.
History tells us that the world’s most successful people have been the biggest failures in their life.As they struggled,their endeavours were met with reverses, adversity, defeat and even permanent failure. But they didn’t give up and showing courage and perseverence,considered mistakes as the opportunities to learn and rediscover themselves,dealt with the obstacles and unfavourable situation to pursue their goals.Thomas Elva Edison met defeat after defeat before he created the modern incandescent electric light bulb and succeeded in reproducing the human sound, besides inventing many inventions. Alexander Graham Bell suffered years of defeat and failure before he was able to invent the long distance telephone.The Wright Brothers didnot invent the airplane in a day.They passed through tough times and defeat before they created the practical flying machine. Napolean Bonaparte met defeat after defeat before he made himself the great power of the world.He often said’To hell with circumstances-I create circumstances. ‘Albert Einstein was considered a retarded child; yet he discovered the famous theory of relativity.Abraham Lincoln,the most popular President of America, tasted failure after failure before he became the most popular President of the USA. Similarly, Amitabh Bachhan, Dhirubhai Ambani and other great Indians didnot get success overnight. They struggled hard before they succeeded in realising their dreams. Not only the politicians,even the great poets and writers also passed through difficult phases of their life before fate smiled on them and success caressed their feet.The manuscripts of many writers were rejected before they were published. For instance it was after five years of continual rejection that Agatha Christie achieved tremendous progress with the sale of her books now in excess of two billion dollars.Twelve major publishers rejected the manuscript of JK Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series before her four novels set records as the fastest selling books in history with a combined sale of 450 million copies.Having sold only  its limited first release,Paulo Coelho,the great novelist found a new publisher after being rejected by others and sold 75 million copies of’ The Alchemist’.’Nobody will want to read a book about a seagull,’ his publishers remarked but Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ has sold about 44 million copies.Alex Hailey faced 200 consecutive rejections before his  famous novel’Roots’ became a publishing sensation selling 1.5 million copies in the first seven months of release and awarded Pulitzer Prize.
The great English novelists Charles Dickens and Gerorge Orwell struggled hard before they gained name and fame as great writers.There are many other examples in history from different fields such as literature, sports, science, theatre, business etc. who suffered failure at various levels such as school, college, business etc. before they achieved greatness transcending across the boundaries. But they all had one thing in common and that was persistence to never give up on their dream- a dream that elevated them from ordinary human beings to great men.Thus  failure is a great teacher which shows us that the way to success is not straight.It is zigzag and requires persistence willpower and strong committment on the part of the traveller to reach his destination.
(The writer is presently serving as lecturer in English, Govt. Hr. Sec. School (Boys), Udhampur).
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