Instant
Inspiration, the weekly capsules of
inspiration
Go on
Failing. Go ON. Only next time, try to Fail better. - Samuel Beckett
In the Instant Inspiration series, this Sunday I share with
you my insights on Failing. The word ‘Failing‘ often has negative connotations.
We think of disappointments, sadness, anger, frustrations, embarrassments, depression,
and all gloomy days that would come ahead if we FAIL. As an Indian, and I am sure this applies for most people
worldwide, I have been groomed by my Family and Society saying “Narendra, Don’t you ever try to fail,
Failure is a stigma, Failure is not an option”. As a result, I tried to do things that would
avoid me failing all together that is to say I kept myself within the confines
of comfort zone. My friend, how will you
grow when Failing is the only source for your growth? When we expand our limits, that’s when we grow
and how do we expand our limits, by taking risks. Risks implies Success or
Failure. If you succeed, good enough, Celebrate! If failed, WAO!, now you know
one way not to succeed. Veteran Hollywood
Actor, Woody Allen says “If you are not
failing every now and again, it’s a sign you are not doing anything very
innovative”.
Amazing Story of an ABAPer:
Last week during one of our tea-time chit-chats, Manish Kumar, the new ABAPer in my Team was mentioning about one of his fellow ABAPer friend, Vijay Sundaram in his previous organization. Special thing about Vijay was, at work whenever he got a dump in the system which means whenever he was failing in his coding, he used to get excited. A sense of happiness revealed from his expressions. He then used to be lost into digging further in his coding work and try different things before he could finally succeed. Whenever he heard of someone getting a ‘dump in the system’ he was attracted to helping his friends. The best thing was he shared all his learning with everyone. Upon being asked the reason behind such a perspective, Vijay used to say “If things are working as usual, there is nothing for us to learn. Only when things don’t work the usual way, we will learn. And by sharing, our knowledge multiplies.” His PASSION for the work is revealed from the said statement. No doubt he was a STAR Performer in his work. Hats off to you Vijay!
You need to have, rather I should say you must have positive attitude towards Failure. Positive
perspective on Failing is critical in your path to success. Someone has rightly
said “Life is like Photography. We
develop from negatives.” Negatives are synonymous to Failures, adversities
and setbacks. John Maxwell in his book ‘Failing Forward’ has
shared this perspective, a glimpse of which is the content of today’s
letter that I wrote on Tuesday, April 08, 2014. I hope you will take
away something
good from today’s post. Thank you and Best Wishes :)
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The Beauty of Failing
Greetings
to Each one of you,
My Special Thanks to the seven of
you from Cardinal Testing Account who liked my email on the ‘Importance of your Work’. This evening I was listening
to the audio book, Failing Forward by John C Maxwell, one of my
favorite authors. Some of the ideas were so profound. Thought of sharing
insights from the book.
A few years ago, I used to think, What
If I will fail this exam? What will my Parents, my Neighbor, my Society
think of me? I just cannot afford to fail? I am the Topper in school, college,
how can I fail? And so on… J Many of you might have
similar stories. In fact, Most of us are afraid of Failing. We see Failure as
stigma and try to stay within the confines of safe zone, and not taking enough
risks. Believe me, by doing this we are purely dodging ourselves. John
starts with “In Life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how
you are going to deal with your problems. If the possibility of failure were
erased what would you achieve?” Powerful! Isn’t it? How one responds to
failure determines the difference between the average and the achievers (in
Wipro terms, the HVCs vs. the EEs/OSs).
We must embrace failure as regular
part of our life. If we are not failing, chances are, we are not really moving
forward. John says “If you are succeeding in everything you do, then you are
probably not pushing yourself hard enough. And that means you are not taking
enough risks. You risk because you have something of value you want to
achieve.” The simple rule is, the more you do, the more you fail. And
the more you fail, the more you learn. The more you learn, the better
you get. The last time you failed, did you stop trying because you failed,
or did you fail because you stopped trying? Please think over.
What is Failing Forward? (Vs. Failing Backward)
Failing Backward: Blaming others, repeating the same mistakes, expecting
never to fail again, expecting to continually fail, being limited by past
mistakes, thinking I am Failure, Quitting.
Failing Forward: Taking Responsibility, Learning from each mistake,
knowing failure is a part of progress, maintaining a positive attitude,
challenging outdated assumptions, taking new risks, believing something didn’t
work, Persevering.
I would say, celebrate your Failures as much as you celebrate your successes. 20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the risks which you didn’t take than the ones which you took. Take more risks. Are you trying? Is your enough, Good enough? Think about it.
I would say, celebrate your Failures as much as you celebrate your successes. 20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the risks which you didn’t take than the ones which you took. Take more risks. Are you trying? Is your enough, Good enough? Think about it.
Are you failing forward? I Love
Failing (of course, forward). What about You? Was this email helpful
enough to change your thoughts on the concept of failing? Let me know your
thoughts.
Have an
Useful Week Ahead!
Best
Wishes, and Regards,
Narendra
Gupta
Failures cause some Men to Break,
and Some to Break Records. All the Best.
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