We often determine the starting point and an ending point. Then we tread along the path to achieve the goal. We often encounter a lot of failures on our path. These failures generally discourage us. But if we change our point of view there are a lot of things that can be learnt from these failures. Here I have listed some:

10) You were not good enough that time.

If you fail, this means you were not good enough. You tried o.k., but not well enough. Consider an example, you wanted to pluck a mango from a mango tree. You thought you can do that just by raising up your hand. But you couldn’t, so you decide to jump. You jumped, you still couldn’t. This does not mean that you can’t pluck the mango it’s just that you didn’t jump high enough. So the next time jump higher

9) Perhaps the method adopted used was wrong

You jumped as high as you could, still could not reach the mango. Did you consider taking a ladder instead of jumping? Perhaps you didn’t. Sometimes we underestimate our goal and think it to be easy. Yes I agree every goal is easy to achieve if you strive with full dedication, but sometimes we need to step back and think is it as easy as I thought it to be? Are there any alternative methods to conquer? If yes, then you got it…

8) Never be over confident

I know I know that “confidence is essential to succeed”, but believe me ‘over confidence’ is certainly not. Sometimes blinded by over confidence we become immune to the easiest way of achieving our goal. All we know is, I can do it, but how is still unknown to us.Being over confident that you can pluck the mango just by jumping and not accepting the fact that this is perhaps not the right method, is mere foolishness.I guess, right!

7) Keep a backup plan

Fine I failed. Failing is not a crime. There are always back papers. But do we keep a backup plan in our daily lives? Generally the answer to this question is ‘no’. No we don’t keep a backup plan. Why? Because we are taught think positive. Since I think positive why should I be prepared for failure? Well think positive it gives confidence but always be prepared for the worst to happen. It keeps you from being over confident. Even if plan A fails I have a plan B to execute.

6) I need to come out of my comfort zone.

I am good at mathematics, believe me very good. But nobody can help me pass in physics. I want to be an engineer. Either I give up my dream, or I see where I lag behind. Since I am good at mathematics I would love to do it the whole day. Human tendency, we like to do things in which we succeed. But there is no magic potion which I would take and be good at physics overnight (or for that matter say till the end of the year). I will have to work hard in physics. I will have to be courageous enough to step out of my comfort zone (mathematics) and study physics, cram all the theorems, all the formulae all the equations, derivations and what not. Believe me it will be hard in the beginning but after a month or so your non comfort zone will be your new comfort zone.

5) I should not be a chicken

Here I don’t mean the chicken that other people eat. Have you ever been to a poultry farm? Chickens make a lot of noise, believe me, a lot. You know sometimes we cram a lot. We make a huge hue and cry over a lot of things which are very insignificant, sometimes, to look cool, sometimes, to create an impact and sometimes for reasons not known to us. Creating hue and cry is not a solution to anything. “Oh my god I really wanted to eat this mango. It looks so juicy, why is this tree so high?” the solution here is not to curse, or to think of the ways of shortening the height of the tree and make hue and cry, we just have to think of the way we can reach the tree and the mango. We just have to put the ladder and pluck it. So don’t be a chicken, be an actor.

4) Right attitude

Did I want to succeed? Or did I really want to succeed? You know the word really is very important. We want a lot of things from life but we ‘really’ want a very few things. When I really want to do something, I do it and do it with determination.Secondly sometimes we complicate things too much when they are not so complicated in reality. This is the reason why we get frustrated and most of the times without any cause. We need to analyze with cool mind.

3) I have crossed another barrier

Now I know what not to do. This is not the solution to my problem. Remember we used to make a date sheet and put on out wall or study table during exams and cross off the exam that we gave that day? Well that time we were counting the days that were left for our exams to get over. Yes the same thing we do in life every time we fail. Every time we fail, we know what not to do the next time. See one method less, you came near to success. All you need to do is to explore what all you have tried and what all is left to be done and execute the methods which are left. Finally you are narrowing your path to success and making way for yourself on this path. This is why people say don’t repeat your mistakes. I know I couldn’t pluck the mango by jumping, so out of all the methods of plucking the mango, jumping was certainly not the solution.

2) Humility

Perhaps the most valuable lesson you learn from failure. I know most of you must be thi
nking that when you fail you tend to get frustrated and rude and angry. But have you people ever noticed that no matter how big our ego is, we ask for help only after we have failed a number of times. Be it from a teacher or a colleague or any other person. We seek for guidance only when we have failed and I am sure when you want something be it guidance, pen, pencil, water, anything for that matter, you would ask it with humility. Because you know that if you are not humble, nobody is going to help you and you are the one who has something at stake. Thus humility is a gift of failure even to the most egoistic person.

1) Value of things

We humans have a very bad tendency of taking things for granted. Everything we get easily or for free is always taken for granted. Say for example air, we got it for free, we took it for granted, polluted it, and now we are suffering. We never value the thing which we get easily. Did we ever think that procuring mango was such a difficult task? I guess most of you will say no. The more you sweat to achieve something, the more sweet and valuable it will become. So I am sure, when you will work hard to have that mango, it will taste sweeter than it would if u just picked it up from a basket.