Duiena Rai
K.R Mangalam World School, Gurugram, Haryana

“Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie

 Often our most ghastly and arcane fear is to fail, but what if the failure was beneficial to us. Right from the beginning of our lives, we are told to be a success. But on our journey to the top, we are bound to stumble. In our schools, we were always encouraged to get ‘As’ rather than ‘Fs’ because F corresponded to failure. In life, we are looked down on if we fail. Instead of seeing failure as a natural process, it was always debunked; we always dreaded it. Failing was something we always eschewed. But failure is the most integral ingredient in the recipe of success. Failure gives us two choices either to traipse onto the path of despair or to trudge onto the path of success. We ordinarily take the one towards despair and end up frustrated, embittered, enervated, and feeling worthless.

 It is rightly said, “If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived.”

Success and failure are the foundation stones of our lives. Success doesn’t come to anyone in a single day; Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

Endless days of tribulations, toil, drudgery, and travail give us the fruit of success. Failure is destiny’s way to evaluate our patience and potential. Remember, you don’t choose the crown of success; it determines its wearer. The impatient, superficial, and desultory people get lost in the yarn of failure. The successful ones don’t fear failure, the sole reason why they succeed. There are thousands of examples of how a failure has turned into a success story. There are so many names that come running into our minds when we hear success, from Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey to Michael Jordan to JK Rowling to Albert Einstein. The list goes on.

The wealthiest man on earth, William Henry Gates III, an American Business giant, has rightly said, “It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure”. His first company Traf-O-Data was a complete disaster. He was just 17 when he encountered this failure, but he wasn’t a man to be bogged down; his grit and tenacity made him rise from ashes. He began again from crumbles, and today he’s the most successful man ever known to us.

In the words of Media mogul Oprah Gail Winfrey, “Failure is a great teacher, and if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer”. In her childhood, she saw many hardships. But the lady was made of an iron-will; she persevered through every situation life threw at her. Today she’s one of the most influential women in the world. She isn’t just a lady with brains but also a golden heart. Through her talk shows, she created a platform to talk candidly and forthrightly about issues usually considered taboo. A lady with a humble beginning, Oprah Winfrey turned into a cult; the University of Illinois created a course, ‘History 298: Oprah Winfrey, tycoon.’

 MJ, the greatest basketball player of all time. Owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships. Michael Jeffrey Jordan, the legend, his career graph wasn’t as effortless as his shots. He tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but he was deemed too short to play. He was rejected, but this didn’t fizzle out his passion; instead, he proved his worth with his assiduous attitude. And today, his legacy speaks volumes. He summed up his success as, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games, twenty-six times, I was trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again, and that is why I succeed.” 

“Mischief Managed!” Who hasn’t heard of this? Every Harry Potter fan knows these lines by heart. Joanne Rowling, the lady whose brainchild is our favourite series to read, didn’t end up this successful easily. With a feeble amount of resources, losing her mother as a teen, and being rejected multiple times before her book was published, her life was filled with ample afflictions. A real bookworm with a passionate spirit, nothing could hold her from fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming an author. She faced everything, yet she stands victorious today.

J.K Rowling very coherently presents the essence of failure in the following words, “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

 What is the synonym for ‘genius’? Yes, you are right; it is ‘Einstein’. Albert Einstein, the pioneer of the Theory of General Relativity, couldn’t speak fluently until nine. He was deemed a failure right at the head start of his life. It was his firm belief in himself that enabled him to make his mark. Well said by the unsurpassed theoretical physicist, “Failure is success in progress.”

 All these examples reiterate the fact that success is incomplete without failure. All these distinguished minds are bound by the thread of resilience, extreme tolerance for loss, and optimism. Had these inspiring people not failed miserably, they would not have endured the hardships, would they have been prepared for their extraordinary journeys? The answer is No because failure teaches us what success cannot. It empowers us.  It is not our undertaker, rather our mentor. It galvanizes us, provides us with a protective layer. Failure toughens us up. Often when we fail, we lose ourselves; that’s the time to get back up, reinvent ourselves, create a newer version of ourselves, take the lessons of failure, and start the journey again from where we left it. Success would never be sweet if we hadn’t tasted the bitter disappointment. It is essential to understand that it is not an ignominy to fail; rather, one must fail intelligently. By this, I mean to equip the readers with the knowledge that one must introspect every part of one’s failure; one must find the lacunae in the plans. And when we see all these, we must begin again and make better strategies to succeed, and it is better to take the chances and fail rather than wait for success to come our way because while waiting, one might lose the opportunity itself. Readers, be courageous, be optimistic, take both success and failure in your stride, and are most essentially grateful for your hardships and failures because either you will win or learn. Many more success stories are waiting to be written, so many people are just one step away from success. So, keep grinding.

Truly said by Nelson Mandela, “Don’t judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up.”