FAILING FORWARD

The world is full of people with different personality traits and guts which defines its complexity. While some people see failure as a disease to be dreaded, so many others see it as a parameter for measuring success. If truth be told, everyone has failed before though at different levels and with variations in consequences; but failure in its entirety is utterly unavoidable. Realizing this reality, some people use failure as a catalyst for success while others still blindfolded regard it as a barricade to success and as a result, they end up dwelling in their failure while accumulating excuses and seeing everything as being wrong in their lives rather than in their might and mind. Failure is failure and should not be padded to be a cul-de-sac but a passage to success.

History has recorded so many great men who failed a couple of times and yet were able to make it to the zenith of life by dint of hard work. From Abraham Lincoln in politics to Thomas Edison in sciences and even Aliko Dangote in business, failure has always been a constant yet these men prevailed against odds. Failure is not what stops or hinders us in life but our attitude towards it.

Though failure is inevitable however, I believe a greater part of it is avoidable. Yes. Careful goal setting and planning, effective researching, good decision making prowess, well calculated & evaluated risk, unwavering patience and lasting discipline are the routes out of irrelevant failure. Though some people would say experience is the best teacher however, I often stress the fact that we can never live long enough to make all the mistakes ourselves meaning we have to learn from other peoples’ mistake and apply the learning points in our demanding lives.

Leaders can move to greater heights if and only if they can just understand that failure is not a sin but a prerequisite for success. Age long adage says that “it is better to try than not to try at all”. So when next you are about to try a new venture, do your homework very well and be confident enough to launch into the deep cause therein lies great treasures. Never dread failure and always ensure every failure moves you closer to your goals. If you must fail then, you must fail forward because great discoveries were only made while failing forward. Lastly if you must know, success is failure turned inside out.