Does Failing Makes You a Failure?

 By; Jacob Mercy Tumba, U17mm1092

Failure is simply a price we pay for attaining success-John C.Maxwell

Failure is a process and so is success. Most of the people who are successful today are products of failures. One common thing about successful people is their ability to bounce back after failing. Every successful person is someone who failed but never regarded himself a failure. That you failed at something doesn’t make you a failure, rather it simply means that you missed out on something you should have done or in other words, there was something you did not do correctly. Either way, your attitude towards that failure determines if you’re a failure or not. The hack for getting through it is to put it all in a perspective. No one should take failing personally, That's the way to take yourself out of failure.

Failure gives room for expertise. For example Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb 1879 after failed attempts. Thomas didn’t give in to failing, not just once, but nine thousand nine hundred and ninety and nine times. After each failure, he saw a better way to try again until he succeeded. Thomas stated that he did not fail rather he found ten thousand ways that did not work. This is a powerful way to view failure that most people fail to realize. Another typical example of someone who did not let his failure determine his success is the Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States of America. He experienced series of failures, he lost his bid for the Illinois State legislature, the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate but none of these failures hindered his success. He demonstrated determination and resilience till he emerged as the 16th president of the most powerful government in the world.

Psychologist Simone Caruthers says, "Life is a series of outcomes. Sometimes the outcome is what you want. Great. Figure out what you did right. Sometimes the outcome is what you don't want. Great. Figure out what you did so you don't do it again. Look at the story of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Before she became a best-selling author, Rowling was a struggling single mother living on welfare. She was rejected by 12 publishers before her book was accepted. In fact, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by so many publishers that she had pinned her initial acceptance letter to her kitchen wall to remind herself that she wasn’t a failure. So, despite countless setbacks and rejections, Rowling never gave up and eventually became one of the most successful authors of all time. Rowling’s story is a great reminder that it’s not about how many times you fail, but how you respond to failure that really matters.

All these people had one thing in common, their ability to try again. Another thing to learn from them is their attitude towards failure. They did not let their failures define them instead they learnt from it and it shaped them to becoming the successful people they were. To wrap this up, let’s ponder on the Danish saying “Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well”.

Posted at; 5:04pm