FAILURES – WHY, WHEN, HOW TO COPE WITH THEM!
‘Failure is just the opportunity to begin again, this time more
intelligently’
Another is year is passing by! I am sure you, like me may have encountered
successes and failures in the last year. During next year too, we know that we will continue
to face similar situations!
Every motivation book talks on “How to be a success”,
“Follow the successful people for victory”!
I have not come
across much about how to analyze your failures and more importantly how to cope
with them.
If you are a parent, teacher or a motivator, you should talk
equally about coping with failures as you talk about achieving successes!
Failure is just the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently!
And hence if you have been a success all your life, move
on…. Don’t read this blog! It is not for you!
This is merely for folks who meet with failures periodically!!
Life is all about negotiations! In the world of
negotiations, if one person succeeds, the other has to fail. Most situations in
life, be it between USA versus Russian governments on missiles, Government
versus opposition on election issues, job interviews, school admissions, examinations
of any kind, are involving negotiations. You have to argue and prove that you more
reasonable than the others! That you are the best choice! That you have the
best solution! Except with wives – they are always right!!
So someone has to ‘give in’ (or ‘fail’). If this is in a
family, the situation is referred to as ‘give and take’! If it is in a war
situation, it is known as ‘victory or loss’! In an examination, it is ‘pass or
failure’!
STAGE OF DEPRESSION
Hence let us begin by saying you have failed in a given situation.
What next?
You may be overwhelmed by grief, depression, shame, what
others would say,your dark future. So it takes time to recover from it. There
is a transient ‘blue mood’. There is a period of decreased psychomotor activity
which means, less of physical activity and more of introspection! Your friends
/ parents can easily make out by your visible slowing and blue mood that
something has gone wrong with you! This is the logical first reaction.
STAGE OF RECOVERY
This ideally is followed by the stage of recovery. This is
the time to say that you cannot win them all and move on with your life. This
is acceptable for minor issues
But there are times when the goal is important in your life;
you have to try again.
This is the time to
introspect and logically think. Just brooding and blindly redoing the same
process may still result in further failures. You need to find out why you
failed, learn from it and go on. The danger is if you do not get up and walk away.
This deepening feeling of loss leads to loss of further productivity and even
loss of one’s own life!
STAGE OF ANALYSIS:
So now is the time to wonder why you have failed to success.
It may be - Failure to plan
Failure to learn
Failure to anticipate
difficulties
Failure to have
plan B if the first plan A goes south
Failure to just
face a failure
Let us look at each in more detail!
FAILURE TO PLAN:
'If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.'
On reaching 50 years, I decided I would run a full
marathon! But first of all, you must know that I was never the macho, sporty
type , now or in college! So I knew I would not even clear 3 km of distance. But
the desire to run a full marathon was definitely there!!
I know I have to plan the event. It is not going to be this
month or next month. I scheduled it 9 months later or rather I started
practicing for it 9 months earlier, slowly, gradually, painstakingly. There are
times I wondered why the heck I was training so hard in the gym for a full
marathon. You must really be sure of your goals; unless you have the goals
firmly engraved in mind, and you plan the event, it is likely to fail.
By the way, I ran all the way and finished it!
FAILURE TO LEARN:
In a competition, or an examination for entrance to a post
graduate course, there are going to be only a limited number of winners or
seats! So if you wish to be in it, it is important that you know all about the
requirements for it.
I know this well, as I have done enough competitive exams in
life .In a written examination, you have to not only know the syllabus, but
also what books to read, read the past few years of question papers, do the
mock exams both written and try viva ( interview) sessions with a colleague!
So prior knowledge about the event goes a long way in the
field you are competing.
FAILURE TO ANTICIPATE
DIFFICULTIES:
We have a tendency to watch a match on TV programs and
criticize the players on the field. We become armchair critics.
In a game like cricket, you have to not only know your team
strength well, but also know what the players are like on the other team. You have
to know what their strength in - bowling (pacers versus spinners), or batting!
You not only have to work on your strength, but also on their weakness! This is
true of performance competitive sports!
In a war situation, you go one step further! You not only
know the weakness of your enemy, but also exploit it to your advance to
incapacitate him, to neutralize him! Even a powerful modern army relies on
communication for operation of their aircrafts, troops’ movements. So, one can
always look at options of interfering with electronic communication to cause initial
confusion and hence failure. The powerful army remains mighty only by being
aware that this would be the Archillis tendon and takes enough measures to keep
its own strength. So even when you are prepared well, look for your weak spots and
keep remedying them!
FAILURE TO HAVE PLAN
B IF PLAN A GOES SOUTH:
Most motivation books cover aspects of successes! When I
read them, I am aware of how many people I meet daily with failed projects, depressed
with failures. Not many books mention failures!
When I talk to these folks,they have been led up the garden path
by useless advisers, ill advertisements or con men! They have been assured of a
cure, or a big jackpot!
It is good to go into life with both eyes open. There should
always be an alternate option anytime in life. When one (plan A) fails, we
should take the other path (plan B)!
As surgeons, we are taught how to do the surgery; if there are
unanticipated difficulties at surgery, one can always turn back. Unless the
point of no return is reached, this is possible.
In life situations too, one meets with difficulties. There
should be an alternate source of income or an alternate person (spouse) to
provide bread for the family when the business starts to fail.
It is not good to take out loans unless one is able to plan
well in advance about repayments.
FAILURE TO ANTICIPATE A FAILURE:
I always consider the worst outcome in any event, before
taking part! It does not sound like great advice, but makes anything practical for me! Most people take part in events only prepared to win; they may be heartbroken when they lose!
For instance if one has a loan to pay for a business
building, it is best to mortgage the site with the bank (rather than the house
you live in). God forbid, if you fail to repay, the bank only will take the
building. They will not lay hands on your house where your loved ones live.
Many young people live with a dream of becoming a doctor for
instance. If one does not get into the medical college, one can try in other
good alternate professions like dentistry or veterinary field or a biology major.
One should not be heart-broken just because one does not get what one aims at.
This is not a failure. It is just a change of direction to succeed!
In summary,
DON’T:
In case of failure,
- Don’t resort to alcohol!
- Don’t resort to drugs!
- Don’t contemplate suicide!
- Don’t ignore depression if it affects your normal life!
- Don’t confide in the wrong people!
DO:
- Get over it (Gajini Mohammed, King Bruce & the Spider)
- Take advise of parents, spouse, close friends!
- Analyse, Plan, Prepare and Perform!
- No failure is worth contemplating taking your own life!
- If you fail to get up and walk away from your failure, then that surely is failure!
- Everything that
happens can
be for good – provided we make good
choices in responding to it.
HAPPY 2019 TO YOU!