The Art of failing forward
After losing a friend to pancreatic cancer because of late detection, 15-year-old Jack Andraka took interest in inventing an early-detection diagnostic test to solve the problem. He had his eureka moment in a high school class and started work on his idea. Soon, he developed his paper test strip and was ready to pitch to investors. He contacted about 200 people with a proposal to work in their labs. Guess what? He was rejected 199 times! He failed. Eventually, John Hopkins University’s School of Medicine took a chance on him after several attempts. He then developed his new diagnostic test which was 28 times faster, 26,000 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than the alternative procedures! Jack, now 22 years is a famous American inventor and has won the first prize at the world’s largest pre-college science research competition – The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
We often ask ourselves the question “What if I fail?” “What if I fail in business?” “What if I fail that exam?” “What if I fail to achieve my goals?” “What if I fail in my relationship?” As a parent, some of the moments I cherished the most was watching my children learn to walk. In their attempts, they stumbled, they fell, however – they picked themselves up and kept going. Aside from the pleasure it gave me seeing them take their very first steps in life, I learnt the fundamental lesson that failure is a part of life. In fact, many success stories are built upon the foundation of recurrent failures.
Think about it; What if Walt Disney gave up when no one offered him a job as an artist? What if Thomas Edison stopped trying after about 1000 attempts at inventing the light bulb? What if Mr. John Obaro did not persevere in the early days of SystemSpecs?
So instead of asking the question, “What if I fail”. Why not ask “What if I Succeed?”
Watching my kids trying to walk taught me some fundamental lessons about failure. Let me share 3 of them with you.
- Failure is a part of Life
An African proverb says that “a person who attempts to strike a crawling snake would first strike the ground.” In other words, we usually don’t hit the bulls-eye at the first attempt. There are a number endeavours you would attempt in life and stumble before you achieve them. You need to understand this and accept that failure is part of life. Failure and success are not mutually exclusive; in fact, many success stories we celebrate today rode on the back of previous failures. That’s life. Like the little baby, accept the reality, pick up yourself and move on.
- Failure gives you the opportunity to learn to do it better
If we have the right mindset, the failures we experience should reveal to us new and probably better ways of bringing our reality to fruition. After about 1,000 failures, the great inventor, Thomas Edison had this to say ‘I have not failed 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb’. That’s the mindset. Failure opens us up to new and better ways of getting things done! Did you know, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple Inc., a company he co-founded? He later established NeXT and Lisa computer Companies, businesses that didn’t do so well. But the story didn’t end there. Jobs returned to Apple and led the company to become one of the most profitable companies in the world. Failure is not actually the end unless you allow it to be.
- Never give up.
A child learning to walk never gives up. They keep trying until they finally walk. Our world today is filled with people who became successful because they refused to give up. Whenever you feel down and out, remember Nigerians like Jason Njoku who after 4 different failed enterprises between 2005 and 2010; including a blog network, a T-shirt business, and a web design company, moved back home into his mother’s house to start all over. Today his is the Co-founder and CEO of Iroko TV, one of Africa’s leading entertainment companies as well as licensor and distributor of Nollywood movies.
You see, you just can’t beat the person who won’t give up. Whenever you find yourself asking the question ‘what if I fail’, remember that as you stumble, with the right mindset, you will move forward.
I’ll leave you with these words from Michael Jordan who said “I’ve failed over and over and over in my life, that is why I succeeded’.
Remember, you have One Life to Live, MAKE IT COUNT!
