Many
of us love 'success'. We desire greatness but we hate failure. We easily get
discouraged and we are afraid to fail! Oh, what an irony!
The
conundrum in achieving success and greatness is in embracing failure. What we do
not want to hear is failure. Sometimes we go to the extent of rejecting
failure. We pray against failing. We look at failure as the opposite of
success. Meanwhile even Jesus told us to expect troubles (failures) and
tribulations as long as we live in this world.
In
2017, I saw tough and rugged friends becoming successful after failing repeatedly.
I saw friends who wrote professional exams fail but they wrote it again and
failed but they wrote again and passed. I realized that failure is not the
cause of poverty but quitting after failure is the reason why many people would
remain poor and unable to fulfill destiny.
Thomas
Edison, the inventor of electric bulbs, tried and failed over 10,000times
before becoming great. Instead of giving up after repeated failures, he learnt
10,000 ways why it will not work.
A
quote by him says, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't
work.” My dear, have you failed 100 times?
If not, why are you giving up on life? What about 10,000 times? Some people
come to me and complain of circumstances, crying and weeping that life has not
been fair to them. I look at them and tell them that life has not been fair to
me either. However, the strength to keep pushing is the reason behind any
success I make. Let us look at the famous Abraham Lincoln:
In
1831, Abraham Lincoln failed in business.
In
1832, Abraham Lincoln was defeated for state legislator.
In
1833, Abraham Lincoln tried a new business, and failed.
In
1835, Abraham Lincoln’s fiancée died.
In
1836, Abraham Lincoln had a nervous breakdown.
In
1843, Abraham Lincoln ran for congress and was defeated.
In
1848, Lincoln ran again, and was defeated again.
In
1855, Lincoln ran for the Senate, and lost.
In
1856, Lincoln ran for Vice President, and lost.
In
1859, Lincoln ran again for the Senate. He was defeated.
Then,
in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
Abraham
Lincoln started failing from 1831 to 1860 (29 years). My dear, how many years
have you failed that you have given up on yourself. What matters most is not
how many times you fail, but that you never stopped.
Wake
up. Wake up. Are your families or friends belittling you? Are enemies
discouraging you? On the other hand, are you being discouraged by your very self?
I have learned over time, the only
person that can fail you is yourself. You are responsible for your success or
failure. Remember, success is not attributed to quitters and greatness is
marred by the fear of failure.
It
is time to check out who is discouraging you. Yourself or others? Do you have a
dream that you are scared of bringing them to reality because you do not want
to fail? Are you scared to learn that business because you do not want to
appear like a failure? My dear, greatness is marred by the fear of failure, not
failure itself. Failure does not make you less great. Instead, look at the good
side of failure. Robert F. Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly
can ever achieve greatly.”
Be
ready to fail but failure becomes fatal when you refuse to learn from it. Bill
Gates tells us, “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to
heed the lessons of failure.” When you fail and refuse to learn from it, you will
fail again in the same way. Moreover, remember that doing things in the
ordinary way and expecting extraordinary results is foolishness. You must be
ready to learn from failures. One of my best writers Robert Kiyosaki said “Don’t
bury your failures, let them inspire you.” This means that you must be smart
enough to identify the cause of your failure. So that when you start again, you
won't repeat the same errors. My mentor and friend Robert Kiyosaki also said,
“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process
of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” This year 2017 taught
me never to avoid failure. Try it. Do it. If you fail, learn from it. Come back
again and do it differently.
Now,
if you have the Holy Spirit within you, your errors will be minimal. But there
are some specific failures that God will lead you into just to furnish (not
punish) you. It was not everyone that Apostle Paul preached to that accepted
Jesus. Sometimes, he was led by the Spirit to be beaten just to be furnished. Failure is God's way of furnishing us and
empowering us. It is not wrong for a Christian to fail. However, when a
Christian fails, he is to ask the Holy Spirit what should be learnt from the
failure. However, it is wrong for a Christian to remain a failure so if you
have failed and it makes you feel like you are the worst sinner, stop that! God
only wants you to learn something. Ask God what the lesson is. Open your hearts
and watch. You will see the lessons behind your failures. Do not quit. Do not
feel downcast or downtrodden. Success is not attributed to quitters.
Finally,
as I round up i leave with this quote by Winston Churchill, “Success is
stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Do not lose
faith. Do not lose your enthusiasm. Instead, learn from your failures and push
on. Success is definitely close by.
Email us: groomingempoweredyouth@gmail.com
God
bless you.
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