Handling Failure

I failed my maths exam when in sixth grade. After that, my parents realized I needed help on the basics. So they sent me for maths tuitions, and I became better at maths.

I failed at achieving the minimum cut-off to get admission into the course of my choice for the graduate program. I was upset. But I enrolled in a less preferred program and pursued it positively.

I failed to get admission into the Ivy League management school I so aspired to; I was super disappointed. But I took it into my stride and did my Masters from a lesser-known Institute, did my best, and managed to secure a job with one of the best IT firms in India.

Later in my career, I failed to get the roles I interviewed for, and I also was unable to get the promotions I aspired for. But, I did not let the disappointments fester. Instead, I sought feedback, developed skills, and eventually secured the roles and the promotions I aspired for.

As I navigated through every failure, I realized that being smart and working hard will not guarantee success at whatever you do. You can only give your best, and if the circumstances are in your favor, you will succeed.

Success in everything is not guaranteed. But failure in something is definitely guaranteed for everyone.

We don’t need any special skills to deal with success. But, we certainly need to develop the skill to deal with failure-the skill to push through our disappointments and get back into the arena after every failure.

Handling success is easy. But if you know how to handle your failures, you have the life skill to shape your life the way you want to.