Beginning to acknowledge failures
Failures, their inevitability, and acknowledging them
Failures are inevitable
Over years I have seen that I can’t avoid making mistakes. When I am starting with something new, there is always a learning curve. Even after doing something for the nth time, I can still make a mistake. When I fail at something like I miss completing a project before a deadline, I feel horrible about it. In such situations, you can find me nowhere. I am mostly hiding behind a pile of work somewhere, avoiding eye contact because I am ashamed of my failure.
You might have also felt like I have in certain situations. They might be personal or work-related. Either way, I think we end up being knee-deep in resentment because we are not prepared to deal with failures. Like we are always told that the world laughs at failures. We usually lack a reliable approach that we can use when we fail. We don’t usually have a second plan.
Dealing with Failure
“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” – John F. Kennedy
One thing that we most certainly should not fail at is acknowledging our failures. Shying away from talking about them gives them more power to rule over our sentiments and emotions. I am a very emotional person. And I have developed a fear of failing or feeling stupid over the years. It might not be the same for you. In that case, kudos to you.
I am building a book reading habit. Reading books gives me a lot of well-deserved me-time. It also gives me a plethora of content that I can use to start or build conversations with peeps. And they help me build an understanding of a topic, form my thoughts and opinions about it and often begin an internal discussion on the subject.
While I see so many benefits of reading books, I must say reading books is not easy. And I failed at completing my book reading goal for 2020. I wanted to read 20 books during last year. I could only read 14. Again, I would not have failed at it if I wouldn’t have tried. So failing at it is not inherently wrong.
Another shot
This year I am prepared to give it another shot. That is another important lesson that I learned when dealing with failures. When we fail at accomplishing something, the goal is yet unachieved. Consider learning how to drive a car. You can either meet an accident and stop learning or continue till the point where you feel accustomed to the practice of driving the vehicle without any help from a third person. So it is important to try again. In my case, I am going to try again at building the book reading habit.
I have already prepared a list of books that I want to read this year. I have tried reading a few of them in the past, and I will give them another shot. Maybe I will read them all this year, may I will not. One thing I know for sure I am going to try.
PS: Sidu’s Medium blog - The Gojek Essential Reading List is an excellent source for finding the next book you’d want to read.
PPS: Porcupine Tree’s The Start of Something Beautiful is amazing song. I can’t help but share it with you folks.