Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward..

Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward..

This famous quote by John C Maxwell has perhaps been one of the most treasured quotes on success for me. Yes, though three of the eight words in this sentence is fail?yet this is a quote about success. For success is but built on the bedrock of failure. Would you not agree?

However, as much as this is about success and failure, the more you try and fail, and then re-read this, you realise that this is more about progress and most about resilience. At least for me!

The year was 2006 and it was a hot, summer afternoon in the middle of Mar. Sitting under an excruciatingly slow moving ceiling fan was a student amongst many others. Beads of sweat trickling down his forehead and eye-brows, the pen in his hand trembled. His eyes were almost moist with tears and the drops now falling on the sheets of white paper could have been his sweat or tears. He couldn’t make the difference. He looked out of the window to gather his wits. This was his higher secondary board exams for maths. He had prepared well for this paper too like he had done for countless other exams for the last twelve years. He knew how to solve the problems but he just could not focus at that moment. His mind was cluttered, and he thought about the consequences of failing that exam. He was used to acing his exams, he had never had to think about failing. But now he sat there and felt his dreams crashing at that moment. He swiftly went from having a bad day to completely blanking out.

As he sat there for the next thirty minutes, he internalized his situation and thought about all the lows he had encountered in the last two years. He knew education was the only way forward. And he had to chin up and write this exam. He had to live to fight another day. That’s what he did. He took ten deep breaths, re-looked at the question paper and finished writing in the next one hour.

He walked out of the exam knowing he has not aced the exam but confident he wouldn’t fail. He waited outside the school for an hour before he went home. He watched the sunset that evening and trying to ascertain the learning he had in those three hours. He took out a piece of paper and wrote, “ Never will I fail for the lack of trying!”

Now, here is the interesting part. Not only did he pass that exam, he went into college believing he could win over his fears. He encountered numerous challenges in the next three years. From the usual heartbreaks in college to sleepless nights working as a telecaller to fund his college exam fees, the journey was exhilarating. But he surrounded himself with people who cared and were motivated by his success – family, trusted friends and teachers. He chose his company carefully. He realized that we are the sum-total of the five people we spend time with.

 He went weeks without getting a proper night’s sleep, there were days he wanted to give up wishing he didn’t have so many struggles. But each time, he would take out that piece of paper and remind himself the note he had written to himself, “Never will I fail for the lack of trying!”

Three year later, he passed college with a specialization in Maths. He did not let one bad day stop him from doing what he wanted.

A decade after the day he graduated, he has gone on from one failure to another as he has tried numerous things to fuel his passion for learning, his passion to move forward. He has written three books, published one, won a country wide writing competition and published with one of the biggest names in the country. He has also been rejected by at multiple publishers for his recent book. Does that stop him?

You are right! It absolutely doesn’t. He has started work for his new and fourth book.

His corporate career has also seen a similar curve. But that is rarely a coincidence. People who bounce back once, always find a way to bounce back at anything. Bounce back to win!

Wonder why though?

• The answer lies in resilience.
• The answer lies in unshakable self-belief.
• The answer lies in truly knowing that the only way to progress is to try, fail, get up and walk again!

This story might not inspire you. You might even argue what good it does for others. There are countless other stories that have far more glory and success attached to it.

But this story inspired one person – the boy himself. And that’s often enough. As long as we are able to inspire ourselves to take regular action towards our goals, those big dreams, faltering wont stop you.

Failure isn’t the enemy. Self-doubt is!

It is absolutely acceptable to have a bad day, but do not let that define you. Falter but do not let that stop you.

Therefore, chin up, show up and have a fantastic day ahead.

Do you have a similar story you would like to share?

P.S.: The boy in question is the author of this story. The hand-written note that has inspired this post is still with me.