How to fail….!!!
Ajay Singh P.
EXL | Ex Samsung | IIM Lucknow | Data Science | Machine learning | Deep Learning | Lean Six Sigma | Google Cloud Platform | Project Management | Business Process Operations
The biggest and foremost social construct which has been feared by mankind in it’s entire history is “FAILURE”. For ages it has been written about talked about by poet’s, writers, historians, scientists, philosophers, saints, hermits, seers, metaphysicists and even every person alive under the sky. If you observe carefully, everything around us is a kind of labelled “SUCCESS” in motion. Be it a car, a mobile, a book, a chocolate, a dress or be it anything tangible we can see around. So in a way we all have grown up with “SUCCESS” as proverbial nectar of human existence and social mobility. Right from our childhood we are trained to succeed in everything as if “SUCCESS” is the “GOLDEN RATIO” ( https://www.livescience.com/37704-phi-golden-ratio.html ) of our very existence.
Are we born to fail..!!!
Think of a situation where you have everything pre-programmed into your brain right from your birth….!!!! Violaaaa…..you could do anything, you could understand every mystery of nature, you could speak every language under this sky, you could learn every subject every concept of knowledge mankind has created…!!! But this does not happen even with people whom we call “GENIUS” or “NUMERO UNO” of human ability. So how our mental landscape is shaped, depends upon where we have been born and how we grow up in that environment to become a part of society or culture of our choice. So here comes the concept of “COGNITION”. Cognition is most important factor in psychological development of mankind. It is cognition because of which a bushman tribal in Kalahari dessert of Africa choose to be a hunter above all possibilities, an eskimo loves to be an igloo dwelling seal hunter, a Moari tribal in New Zeeland choose to be a warrior as per his tradition, a girl in U.S.A. decides to take admission in Stanford, Harvard or MIT, a girl in Afghanistan grows up under the cover of hijab to observe all religious traditions to remain socially acceptable and marriageable . Now here is the twist …!!!!. What if Eskimo is shifted to New York? What if that girl in Afghanistan is shifted to Brazil? What if a girl in New York is shifted to Kalahari dessert of Africa? What will happen? Think about all the possible outcomes..!!! Some of us may say that humans are very adaptable and chances are that all of them will adapt to new environment. So here is the question, how you define the adaptation? Is just being alive in a foreign environment is adaptation or survival. Think of it in context of native environment of each of examples sighted above. What they would do in their native environment which they would not be able to do in a foreign environment. That is the cradle we all need to explore. While in native environment “SUCESS” is so many things clustered together, in a non native environment it is just becomes “BEING ALIVE” or “SURVIVING”. Here non native environment means change in location, language, culture, environment and everything which would make one feel connected to his or her choices of social and personal existence. This thing happens with all of us in our daily life. We are doing something either as routine or as habit. But the moment we come across some sudden change we feel challenged. We immediately classify the event either as danger or support for our social existence and social mobility . In case of danger our imminent reaction is either to face it head on or start lurking under the shadow of fear. As they say when danger in inevitable, Fighting it is character, fearing it is a choice..!!!. So basically our culture, our beliefs, our cognition, our filial group decides about our definition of motivation, success and failure and also how much failure would impact our motivation and behavior for our response to failure. For example in New York success can be attributed to professional achievements or educational achievements but in an African tribe it might be number of wives, number of cows or how skillful hunter you are, warrior you are. So is failure and it’s definition is pre-programmed in us? All of us would argue otherwise but if you ask me, my answer is YES. It has been proved by geneticists that there is a set of genes on human chromosomes which controls inherited intelligence and other cognitive faculties and human intelligence is a polygenetic trait ( controlled by multiple genes ) . How this inherited genotype interacts with immediate environment and becomes optimum phenotype ( functional expression of genotype through through human body features and morphological developments ), is an an ongoing debate. The picture below shows how neurons in human brain define biological level of human intelligence and mind you we have approx. 86 billion neurons functioning in our brain at any given time. Human brain is very very mysterious. When we learn something our brain forms new neurons and new neuron based connections to store that information. That is the reason doctors always prescribe older persons to exercise their brain daily by involving their mental faculties in tasks which require focus, memory and learning. So be it chess, drawing, sports, or reading. All such activities start a vigorous rewiring of older brains by creating more neurons and neuron based connections. Why it is required is because human brain grows till the age of 10 years and post that it only keeps on supplicating existing neuron mass by forming more neurons depending upon how much usage we put our brain to, for memory related focus based tasks. Now slightest change in inheritance of genes responsible for neuron creation and development can have catastrophic impact on function of human intelligence and cognitive abilities of a human being…!!!. If you add the immediate environment to it, Genotype to phenotype expression cycle becomes more pronounced or less pronounced depending upon where you are born and how you were groomed from the time of your birth.
Be thankful that someone failed in past to make a way for you..!!!
If you pic up any story of human history, you will find so many folklores and stories about great warriors, great kings, great philosophers, great writers, great inventors, great architects, great seers. BUT ALONG WITH IT YOU WILL COME ACROSS SOME HEART WRENCHING TRAGEDIES AND THEIR TRAGIC HERO’S. I call them most important part of history of mankind, the ongoing non stop story of humanity. Because they were the one’s who tried and failed. Those were the one’s who told humanity that very important thing which is more important than “WHAT TO DO” and that is “WHAT NOT TO DO”. There is a very famous saying,” DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FAILURE, WORRY ABOUT MISSED OPPURTUNITIES IF YOU DO NOT TRY”.
Some greatest failures in the history of mankind
Alps man
A well preserved body of prehistoric human from Cromagan era found in snow on the slopes of French alps at he height of more than 4000 meters. What was that man doing there as no other such body was found ever at that height in that area.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race
Neanderthal humans
They suddenly disappeared from the face of planet earth. Was it invasion of homo sapiens or something else???
Trojan Horse
Who can forget this tragic lover story immortalized in Homer’s Iliad.
Cyrus the great and attack on Scythian tribes of central Asia
Though it might look like any another story of history but then you must watch a movie TOMIRIS based on life of Scythian Queen Tomiris who defeated Great King Cyrus and cut his head as trophy. King Cyrus was ruling largest empire in then known world stretching from Persia to Egypt.
Kingdom of Phoenicia
Phoenicians are famous in history as most skillful sea fares ever to exist on planet earth. Their mastery over ship building and sea navigation was legendary and they had a formidable place to live in the form of island forts or sea ports fortified with geometric precision but they did not invest as much in their military prowess, as much they did in their trade and result, they perished under onslaughts of neighboring kingdoms. They were commercial axis of ancient world, famed for their trade and commerce from China to England. Till date in the history of mankind the scale of trade has not been replicated if we benchmark it with modern inflation adjusted financial benchmarks.
Hannibal of Carthage — One warrior in history who would Roman empire so many times when Rome was at it’s peak of military power then it was Hannibal of Carthage. But his ambition led to his destruction and he had to commit suicide after loosing his home city of Carthage to Romans and he died as a very lonely person. Biggest fallout of Hannibal’s ambition was extinction of an alternate power center to Roman empire, THE CITY OF CARTHAGE which resulted in a course of history distorted by Roman empire and it’s excesses in wars and social life.
Fall of Roman empire — less is written, more better it is on this topic. But we all know how romans failed themselves with their vanity and arrogance despite being invincible for 1000 years. Fall of Roman empire was biggest catalyst in shaping medieval history along with spread of Islam and Christianity almost parallelly.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Rise of Mongol empire and destruction of Europe and middle east — If there was one person who realized the dream of winning the whole world literally more than Alexander the great, it was Mongol king Genghis Khan. But along with the rise of Mongols came destruction of towns, societies cultures and entire countries. Most famous of all the this is sacking of Babylon by Mongols. If you choose to read about it, you will be horrified by sheer cruelty inflicted on the denizens of Babylon.
Genghis Khan | Biography, Conquests, Achievements, & Facts
Invasion of India by Central Asian tribes and Imperial powers
India was famous as GOLDEN SPARROW for its culture, trade, and resources. At one point of time in medieval history India alone was contributing to 25% of global GDP and trade..!!!! Well the great slide of India's economy and culture started really after East India Company started changing it’s functioning from commerce to politics to military by annexing kingdoms and their territories in India to establish the reign of Her Majesty. It is estimated that East India company looted 250 trillion pounds from India in today’s equivalence of currency after adjusting Pound’s currency value for inflation.
World history by per capita GDP
Rise of Church and subjugation of science
All of us have heard about HOLY CRUSADES and KNIGHT TEMPALARS. But post the signing of MAGNA CARTA by King of England , Vatican Church felt threated for it’s core principals of religious practices and belief's.
This led to a conflicts within and outside papal authority of Church. This lead to Holy wars against Pagan belief regions of Europe and useless bloodshed of innocents. This was the very first origin of religious discrimination which is still polluting mankind through different religious extremisms . One of the most feverish subject of Church was propagating the divinity of God and abhorring the science and scientists. Church was so allergic to science that it started convicting scientists under the garb of blasphemy like common criminals. When after great plague AGE OF RENESSAINCE came upon the Europe, Church patronized some great artists and sculptors but it’s abhorrence to science still continued leading to formation of underground secret societies of scientists and thinks like ILLUMINATI and FREEMASONS. All these secret societies would continue to propagate the science and philosophy of science despite so much subjugation.
Science and the Catholic Church
Some of the famous scientist who revolutionized scientific thinking were persecuted for their beliefs and teachings .
Galileo to Turing: The Historical Persecution of Scientists
Invasion of New world and destruction of aboriginal culture
As if known world was not enough, Kings of medieval era financed explorers and navigators to explore new worlds. This was start of a frenzy among the all such wise heads for becoming first to reach the NEW WORLD and establish the flag of their king THE ROYAL HIGHNESS. Suddenly eastern world and western worlds became HOT NEW THING in aristocratic and imperial circles of Europe. From famed Marco Polo to Amerigo Vespucci ( Man who discovered American continent ) to Columbus ( Man who is credited by many as discoverer of American continent) to Sir Francis Drake list is full of who and who of history of world geographical exploration.
10 Famous Explorers Whose Discoveries Changed the World
The worst and biggest impact this frenzy of exploration had was that new world was treated as goldmine of slaves and resources by imperial powers. So it was and open loot and murder story for more than 4 centauries resulting in total destruction and extinction of some very rich and beautiful indigenous cultures in Asian continent and American continent .
Industrial revolution and arrival of smog of pollution
Industrial Revolution | Definition, History, Dates, Summary, & Facts
Industrial revolution is one of the most famous chapters in the study of modern history . It changed the way humanity lived and functioned and for forever it changed everything. But excessive use of mechanical inventions and a callous disregard to nature brought in it’s own pitfalls. It was a non stop race of proving their country more dexterous and advanced on world stage. This lead to so many catastrophic changes in environment and origin of new diseases which were never heard before in the history of mankind. Have a look at human cruelty inflicted to MOTHER NATURE in the name of technological advancements in below list .
List of environmental disasters
World war 1 and World War 2
The biggest undoing of humanity in 20th centaury was misuse of technology and lust for imperial power which led to catastrophes of world war 1 and world war 2. It lead to origin of fascist powers, invention of nuclear weapons, holocausts, war crimes never heard of in human history and destruction at a scale unparalleled. The biggest outcome of these catastrophes was invention of new methods of destructions with unforeseen power of destruction at a scale never seen before . Some parts of humanity rejoiced to have them while some would cast their apprehensions about perils of these new found methods of destruction. Humanity just started a mad race for power and supremacy . This proved catastrophic for environment and space around earth as both were polluted beyond repair. Just imagine if these two mad made disaster had not been unfolded by powers there be, what would be history of mankind.
The Mad race for new gold oil
If humans were not done with pollution, they found something new for satisfying their vanity and it was OIL. So every nook and corner of our beautiful planet was flushed with automobiles and holes dug up to drill oil for these automobiles. It gifted so many health perils to humanity in the form of pollution that pharmaceuticals companies lapped up this opportunity to go into overdrive to test best of drugs on all of us in the name of medical treatment . Rest is an open story to read.
What all the history and examples prove
Humans realized very early in their evolution that control on resources the biggest source of power. This has been the biggest driver of course of history through origin of primitive tribes, societies, villages, towns, kingdoms. This lead to power struggles, wars, destruction and it created a deep entrenched mentality that power is the mean to survive and thrive. THIS METAPHORICALLY ENTERED OUR SOCIAL GENETICS and if 3u ask me it made humanity selfish to the core . This selfishness is what started breeding a class of humanity which would do everything possible under sky to avoid failure in first place. Slowey and slowly it became a social norm and excellence was defined by number of successes and not by grit shown.
What does that mean !!!!
It simply means that humanity has evolved with a phenotypic notion of quality of life based on self serving life goals and rules created to facilitate it .
All the examples i have mentioned simply highlight the social and individual evolution of human psychology regarding pursuit of power . This was based on MOTIVE AND REWARD construct which is highly poisonous when it comes to social behavior. Motivation is always tied to some reward related to outcome of action so your best of observation becomes a target to achieve. This brings in moral and social corruption to achieve something at any cost. This is the sole reason for our present notion of FAILURE. Nobody wants to FAIL…!!!! Why so…!!!! Because there is no reward for failure and it is a social taboo which will hamper your social mobility in terms of reputation, prestige, ego, sense of achievement. Now if you read all the theories of motivation, success, motive, action, intent in Psychology you would realize that action is linked to reward which might be anything ascribed to intent of action. Human mind and behavior are a by product of biochemicals and genes in our body. What kind of conditions we are living in has a very significant impact on human body biochemistry because it would stimulate our body’s nervous system to release biochemicals as a response action of our body to balance the external and internal environment of our body. Over a period of time this biochemical cycle starts modifying our body’s response to external stimuli in the form of conception of mind for any given situation be it classified as danger, joy, satisfaction, disease, anger, sadness or whatever it may be. This modification leads to evolution of of our neural complex in our brain in a particular way to become permanent. This is what programmes us for failure. This is what starts modifying genes over a period of time in number of generations and become a hereditary trait and social norm . Now go through all examples i have mentioned and think how our ancestors have shaped our social behavior and our social genetics based on their greed and selfishness. May be you would be tempted to count so many great inventions and discoveries but if you put all the destruction, wars, loot on one side and all the inventions, developments, discoveries on other hand, you would realize what i am talking about.
Biggest problem
The biggest problem we gift to our next generation is that right from very beginning we try to train them for SUCCESS. We try to instill a fear for failure..!!! . This is biggest moral corruption we breed in our children and ourselves. Never ever you will find someone telling you “I WILL TEACH YOU, HOW TO FAIL”..!!!! Just imagine you telling your parents that i have enrolled in a programme titled “HOW TO FAIL”. Just try it once and see their reaction. You will realize a very deep rooted bias in human psychology about life and human intent. So we need to realize that it is ok to fail not once but many times, that it is ok to loose something, that is it ok to come 2nd or 3rd in a competition. We need to realize that reward of action shall be EXCELLENCE not becoming BEST in the lot. Because excellence makes you better human being compared becoming BEST of lot, of class, of office, of city, of country, of word and what not in the name being successful . Your excellence lies in your GRIT to stick to your motives despite so many failures unlike that SMARTWORK TRASH WE ARE FED EVERYDAY that if something is not working in a time, move over to something which would work. Just imagine you mom walking out on you because you are not behaving as a role model child….!!!! What would have been your life if your parents would just give up on you ..?? But they never did…!!!!! Why ??? Because they love you more than anything in this world and they would do anything to make you a success at least for themselves, if not for world to behold you in amazement..!!! Why don't you become a parent to THE CHILD ( Your life )..!!!! Try it and you would see that how very society we are living in, was wrong on so many things and one of those things is “FAILURE” and “HOW TO FAIL”.
Your grit is your biggest power, so just stay put with your belief in yourself.
Your dreams a treasure only you have, don't loose them.
Your spirit is your inspiration, don't loose it.
Your failure is your teacher, don't stop it from teaching you.
Your life is a gift, treat it as the greatest gift you have ever received.
Say thank you to your Mom, your Dad, your sister, your brother, your friend, your teacher and anyone who is still with you despite you failing so many times and in so many ways. The biggest lesson we shall learn in our life is “HOW TO FAIL” because this one lesson will let you know who really are and who you will become on future. So keep trying, keep failing till the moment you do not master FAILURE and you become a SUCCESS like your mom made you walk on your feet despite you tumbling so many times… :)
# PS — Someday oneday i am planning to write a book “HOW TO FAIL” :)