Failure!!
Ankit Jhamb
Therapist | Author | Chief Learning Officer - Grant Thornton Bharat LLP | 2 TEDx Speaker | Sukoon-Da-Pyo | India Book of Records - 10 Books in 3 Years | Top 20 HR Influencer 24 - Economic Times
Not all roses blossom into flowers, not all clouds rain, not every caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, not every time the lion catches its prey, and not every joey becomes a kangaroo.
In the evolutionary element of nature, the word failure doesn’t exist. It just doesn’t!
If there is a word that defines the undying spirit of a rose, the impermanence of clouds, the resilience of a caterpillar, the discipline of a lion, and the destiny of a kangaroo, the word is ATTEMPT.
?Nature ensures all its sentient beings make a humble attempt to live, thrive, and survive another day. If they don’t, nature evolves them, makes them immune to the impending threats, and errs but it brings its beings back to the word ATTEMPT.
?The lion attempts every day to bring home food while the deer tries to save itself or at least the family. The caterpillar continues its attempt to turn itself into a butterfly. Each aspect of nature is built on the word ATTEMPT. A resilient, disciplined, committed act of ATTEMPT.
?Hence there is no success and no failure.
?Unfortunately, these are human constructs born out of the intellectual manifestation of their pre-front cortex or the neocortex.
?No one else, not even the aliens if there are any are obsessed with words like FAILURE. We have taken it a bit too far, a bit too seriously, and a bit too personally.
?A part of me thinks the devil lies in history. It’s the fault of the kings and the kingdoms. The concept of failure and success originated with wars, losing territories, taking a hit on their pride, and protecting their kin, clan, communities, and sometimes their belief system.
?That’s how the concept of failure must have originated. So, there was a failure and then there was the burden of failure. If failing was not enough, we had to be creative, pushed the envelope, and conceptualize the burden of failure. It meant now our kings would not only belong to the category of failure, but they would also lament for the rest of their lives and bury themselves under the burden of a failed king. The only way out of the systemically inflicted misery was to redeem themselves by killing a few thousand more, capturing the far away lands, and ensuring the flag of their color could be seen everywhere. That meant getting stuck in the cycle of success and failure forever.
?Maybe it worked for them, maybe there was no choice back then.
?But what’s wrong with us now? there are no territories, there are no risks to our families, we don’t run kingdoms, and we are not the protectors of any belief system then why are we more buried deep down under the weight of words like a failure.
?This intellectual concept and the societal cage called Failure is where we miss living life. This cage grips our curiosities, clips our creativity, and like slow poison the burden of expectation, the fear of humiliation, the sting of embarrassment, and the dent in self-worth renders us into a decaying and depreciating tree of the Solomon island. The island where people circle the tress and they abuse them. The trees slowly give up and die their death.
?It’s time to turn things around. It’s time to celebrate failure. Rather it’s time to drop the word itself.
What if every failure was an attempt, without judgments, without the burden to pass or fail, without the fear of humiliation, and without the baggage to prove one’s worth. What if failure was a beautiful feeling, what if we were taught to feel blessed to fail, what if gratitude followed failure, what if hugs accompanied failure and what if smiles followed the hugs?
?Because once again the fool asked the wise man” How can we eradicate the fear of failure?
The wise man replied “By throwing away the obsession to succeed”
www.ankitjhamb.com
A Human passionate about Human Resources
2 年Great piece! I loved it
Global Manager - Public Sector Practice at BCG | Ex- PwC
2 年For me it means not being able to move forward from disappointment easily and having fear of failing again! My coping mechanism is to have courage, and speak with family and friends who believe in me especially on the days when I don’t feel the same :)