Failure: A Key To Success

Why do we look down on failure? Without failure, there can be no success.

- Dr. Muni Abhijit Kumar

Let's take a look around us. We are surrounded by highly advanced technology and inventions made possible with the application of modern science. We only see progress all around us. We marvel at the level of development, the novelty of ideas, the brilliance all around us! What we see are the fruits of success of hundreds of people. We all revere and desire success. We are thrilled when we succeed. We love to hear or read about success stories or about successful people. Does anyone like reading about failure?

Then why has nobody initiated a battle against failure? Why has no one been able to develop a sure-shot formula to mitigate failure? Is it even possible to completely eliminate failure?

The answer is no. What we easily forget is that behind every success story, there are hundreds of instances of failing - stories of stumbling, falling and then bouncing back. The joy derived from success, is the culmination of a long journey of making mistakes, struggling, getting dejected, facing difficulties and enduring pain. If failure and mistakes didn't exist, we wouldn't have been able to use even half of the brilliant inventions that we have today. Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

Failure leads to something even better. Taking bigger strides or jumping higher lead to improvement. Failure is the mother of discoveries. It can even lead to a fortunate stroke of serendipity. There have been multiple accidental discoveries, forcing us to believe that failure can be positive too! Thus, we shouldn't construe or label failure as something negative, something to be hidden, or something to wash our hands off. We need to change our perspective towards failure.