FAIL FASTER, SUCCEED SOONER

In the world of academics mistakes are perceived as bad and are to be avoided. In the world of education, the more mistakes a person makes, the less intelligent that person is thought to be.

In the world of practical application (in another words-- a world of streets), mistakes are opportunities to learn something new, something the person didn’t know before. Here, the more mistakes a person makes, the more he learns.

“Just remember the frustration you went through as you struggled to learn how to ride a bicycle (provided you know how to ride it). All your friends were riding but all you were doing is climbing on the bike and immediately falling off. You made mistake after mistake. Then suddenly, you stopped falling off, you begin to peddle, the bike begins rolling, and then suddenly like magic the whole new world opens to you. That is the magic found in mistakes!!”

Some mistakes which led to ultimate magic:

v  Warren Buffet made the biggest investment mistake while acquiring Berkshire Hathway. It was a shirt manufacturing company which was acquired at a time when the textile industry was running out of America. For those interested in this fascinating story can go through the book “The Warren Buffet Way”, by Robert Hangstrom.

v  Levi Strauss headed for the gold fields of California to strike it rich in mining. However, he was not a good miner, so he instead began sewing pants out of canvas for the miners who were successful. Today, I think most of the world has heard of Levi’s Jeans.

v  It is said that Thomas Edison would never have invented the light bulb if he had been an employee for the company he ultimately founded—GENERAL ELECTRIC. It is said that Edison failed over 10,000 times before finally inventing the light bulb. If he had been an employee of a major corporation, he’d most likely have been fired for making so many mistakes.

v  Christopher Columbus’s big mistake was that he was looking for a trade route to China and accidently bumped into America. The most powerful country in the world is also somebody’s mistake.

v  The life-story of Abraham Lincoln is a story so many failures and thus is the story of a person to learn a lot from. One of the most renowned President of The United States (POTUS).

But the real story is not making mistake, but what do you learn out of making that very mistake. In the real life, you’re given the mistake first and then it’s up to you to find the lesson, if you ever find it. Since most of the people have not been taught how to make mistakes and learn from them, they either avoid mistakes altogether, which is a bigger mistake, or they make a mistake but fail to find a lesson from the mistake. And that is why we find so many people making the same mistake over and over again because they have never been taught how to learn from their mistakes.

In School, you are considered smart if you don’t make mistakes. In the business world, you’re smart only if you are ready to take challenge, commit mistakes and learn from them.

The fear of failure is the fastest way to reach it. Go out face the negativity, become tougher. Commit mistakes but try not to repeat them. Rectify yourself by learning from them and go again and commit a new mistake to learn a new lesson. This is called the creative process. Because if you have never failed, you have never lived.

LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ABUNDANT –--ROHIT MATHUR