Embracing failure
SEVERAL students fear the word failure, and it seems like everybody wants to achieve success in an instant. However failure is something everybody experiences, and it’s not always a bad thing.
It just proves that the way to success is not easy. In fact, it is a vital experience that will make you rethink your priorities. Failure is not the end of the world, but it is not easy to embrace. Without clear thinking, fear of failure and failure itself can undermine one’s performance, judgment and even happiness at school. See failure as a road and not a wall. It’s a learning curve, you can pick up the broken pieces and move on. Most prominent people today once failed. Before their success, some of the world’s most highly successful people experienced epic failure. For example :
Thomas Edison - Most Successful
Inventor.
In what might be at once the most discouraging statement and worst teaching practice of all time, Thomas Edison was told by his teachers he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Edison went on to hold more than 1 000 patents, including the phonograph and practical electric lamp. Death most likely spared his teachers the ignominy of their incorrect assessment.
Edison is now known as one of the most successful inventors who ever lived and his creations changed the lives of billions of people.
Albert Einstein
His name is synonymous with intelligence yet it wasn’t always that way for Albert Einstein. As a child, he didn’t start speaking until he was four, reading until he was seven and was thought to be mentally handicapped. If he had given up and never persevered, his most important theories could not have been known.
Walt Disney
Can you imagine your childhood without Disney? Well, it could easily have been if Walt had listened to his former newspaper editor. The editor told Walt he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas”. Undeterred, Old Walt went on to create the cultural icon that bears his name.
Disney’s take on failure:
“I think it’s important to have a good hard failure when you’re young… Because it makes you kind of aware of what can happen to you. Because of it, I’ve never had any fear in my whole life when we’ve been near collapse and all of that. I’ve never been afraid.”
Theodor Seuss Geisel -Best Children’s
Author.
Known to generations as Dr Seuss, the much-loved children’s author had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers.
According to him, he was on his way home to burn his manuscript when he ran into one of his Dartmouth classmates who eventually helped him to find a publisher for his book. Now, he’s known as one of the best children’s authors. His books, which weren’t good enough for these publishers went on to sell more than 600 million copies worldwide.
Oprah Winfrey - Successful TV
Anchor
She’s a billionaire with her own TV channel. Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first TV job as an anchor in Baltimore.
In 2013, Oprah reflected on her experiences during a Harvard commencement speech: “There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.”