By Sayan Maiti:
How many people do you know who have never failed in life. Could be a couple of superhuman aliens who probably reached the earth because of an accident! Because unfortunately in my quarter of a century of lifetime I have never heard about anyone who hasn’t. And my list contains successful people as well. But history remembers success and failures are generally looked down upon. Probably that’s why a failure story isn’t as popular as a success story.
When I was in school I read a lot about Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Ballabhai Patel — people who shaped modern India and about people who have made it big in their life like Dhirubhai Ambani, Amitabh Bachan and Sachin Tendulkar. But unfortunately our textbooks have very little said about their failures. Does it mean that they have never failed? It will be wrong to assume that because “if you have never failed you have never lived”. But what’s that single most important quality of these great personalities that they have made it so big in life. It is luck, hard work and perseverance. Yes maybe but these will add up to nothing if in the end you lack a positive attitude. If we denote the letters in English alphabets from 1 to 26 then hard work is 98, luck is 47 but its attitude that adds up to 100. If you don’t have a positive attitude you might have all the means to succeed but you will never be able to reach the pinnacle of success. On the contrary positive attitude might not guarantee you success but it will certainly ensure you happiness.
Here is some interesting fact about a person – Failed in business at age 21, was defeated in a legislative race at age 22, failed again in business at age 24, overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26, had a nervous breakdown at age 27, lost a congressional race at age 34, lost a congressional race at age 36, lost a senatorial race at age 45, failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47, lost a senatorial race at age 47, was elected PRESIDENT of the US at age 52! How will you rate this person? He was none other than Thomas Abraham Lincoln or the most popular president of the United States. Had he not have a positive attitude we would have never heard about him. Thomas Edison failed more than 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb. When asked about it, Edison allegedly said, “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb. That’s positive attitude for you.
Life is filled with adversities and you will meet challenges in every sphere of life. To overcome all this obstacles and reach your goal you will need the path of positive attitude to steer you through times of thick and thin. When you fail your attitude will determine how quickly you will stand up and come back better prepared. When you succeed it’s the attitude that will support you to stay right there. If you ask a person who has a positive attitude and who has always failed he will reply back saying that he has yet to achieve success. That’s the difference between a person who has a positive attitude and who hasn’t.
You might be down and worries might be taking a toll on you. But it’s time to change your attitude. It’s time to get rid of negative thoughts and behavior and lead a happy and successful life. Why not start today? If you have tried and failed, it only means that you have not tried enough.