Recommended Reading: Energy & Enthusiasm Accelerate The Journey To Achieving Personal & Professional Goals. A Wonderful HBR Article That Reiterates Timeless Principles For Ensuring All-Round Success & Happiness!
Reflections: Get The Big Picture Work On Core Values Develop Rituals Energy – Body, Emotion, Mind, Spirit
Practical Tips: Focus For 2-3 Hours & Take A Break For 15-20 Minutes Walk & Talk Sleep Well Eat Well Exercise Regularly
The winner takes it all! Winning at any cost seems to be the modern mantra – whether in business, politics or any other aspect of life.
But what about failures? Failure is a learning process. Failure is an important part in our journey of evolution. Unless we fail, we do not learn the important lessons that are necessary for our growth – personal as well as professional.
Once a famous Indian King had to make a choice between two able generals for an important war. One was a general who had never lost an war. He was the lucky general. The other one had won more wars but lost a few as well. The upcoming war was an important one and king chose the one with a mixed record. The second general would not take success for granted. He would be less arrogant and take the right steps for winning the war. And who knows the first one could run out of his luck – law of averages would catch-up! Wise choice.
Today, the excessive focus on success has made failure a completely negative concept. Failure is not welcome. But failure is nothing to be shameful about. Every race has always one winner – so we should not consider the rest as failures.
Failure is an equally important factor in the innovation journey. Hundreds of innovations became successful, but thousands and thousands failed before the successful ones!
I recently came across an interesting Museum – the Museum of Failure. Hidden in a small town of Helsingborg in Sweden, it is a collection of all interesting innovation failures. It has a collection of failed products and services from the world – to drive home a single point – that business of innovation is risky proposition, but it is a learning process.
Some of the famous items on display include:
– Apple Newton
– Harley Davidson Perfume
– Google Glass
– Nokia N-Gage
– Kodak Digital Camera
– Sony Betamax
– Lego Fiber Optics
– Ford Edsel
– Donald Trump Board Game
– Colgate Beef Lasagna
– Coke Coffee Cola
The important thing is to not get disappointed after failure or lose enthusiasm. We should avoid self-doubts as well. Failure tells us to start once again but with more intelligence and information. Hence failure is never final. It is a stepping stone towards success!
Last week, I watched the telecast of ‘Go Back To School’ program on NDTV Profit. It featured the legendary icons of our time – Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. The college graduates asked them questions over a period of one hour. Their answers brought that the rules for greatness and outstanding success in life are simple.
Here is what I noted after listening to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates:
1. Follow your passion.
2. All of us make mistakes. Don’t worry. Don’t repeat the mistake.
Bill Gates said that he did not anticipate rise of Google/Search. Warren Buffet sold a stock and it rose crazily after.
3. Get The Best of Out People. Invest in people and trust them.
4. Learn To Say No – Best Time Management Advice.
Bill Gates dedicates two weeks for “thinking”.
5. Invest in Public Speaking Course. Read Faster.
6. Share with others. Equity is an very important issue in the world.
Warren Buffet and Bill Gates mentioned that they had got lucky tickets in life. Their thoughts were inspiring and informative. Though these thoughts look very simple, only few understand the wisdom behind these simple principles.
