FIVE REASONS YOU MUSTN’T ACCEPT THAT LIFE HAS DEFEATED YOU


One interesting phenomenon in life is that there is nobody who has made it, be it in business, career, profession, finance, or whatever, who had not suffered some unfair deal at some point. Like the coin, life has two sides, the head and the tail, the good and the bad sides, the success and failure sides.
Everyone who has attained fame, wealth, or power today also has some sad part of his or her story. You can understand why Winston Churchill, one of the greatest Prime Ministers of United Kingdom, said that “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Michael Jordan is a well-known name. A former professional basketball player, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, he failed many times. This is his testimony, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Also, the famed author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, one of the greatest books ever written, had a number of setbacks before he hit it big. Between 1977 and 1980, his companies, two of them, went bankrupt. In 1994 he had to sell another company due to some challenges. It was in 1997, when he was 50, that he started his investing and writing career, a venture that has established him as a multi-millionaire. 
These are the five reasons you must accept that life has defeated you, irrespective of the state you are now.
(1) Most setbacks have treasure in them. Frances E. W. Harper, a United States writer said that, “Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity.” In the eyes of many, Nelson Mandela had “failed” in life in the 27 years he was incarcerated. But in that seeming “failure” was born the total and lasting emancipation of South Africans from apartheid.
(2)  Problems are tests and examinations that reveal us to ourselves: Disappointments don’t come to mangle us; they come to reveal our strength to us. Proverbs 24:10 records that, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” Some people think that they are courageous and resilient, but in the face of small challenge, they throw in the towel. So when you suffer some defeat, don’t believe that you’re finished. It was Richard Nixon, a former American President who said that, “A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.”

Even in conventional examinations in school, there is always a resit, that is, another chance to write the examination and pass. So no failure is the end of the road. It is only an opportunity to rise again. In the words of Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Setbacks also reveal other people to you. Do you want to know people you can trust, people you can team up with or partner with to do business or any other thing? I mean people that can be a great asset to you? Then, wait for them at the arena of disappointments. You’ll discover their true colour.

(3) Difficulties are opportunities in disguise: If there is anything that has failed so many times, more than perhaps anything else, it is history. Wars, famine, slave trade, murders, floods, earthquakes, economic downturns, inflation, unemployment, epidemics, endemics, crimes, to name a few - these are all historical setbacks. But in all, history keeps standing up, keeps forging ahead, and keeps making progress in economic recoveries, peace and reconciliation, relief efforts, scientific and technological advancement, wealth creation, and so on.

Indeed, history is consistent triumph over failures. If history was discouraged at any point in time to give up because of failure, we wouldn’t have the civilization and fast-paced development we have today. History sees every setback as an opportunity to improve on tactics, change strategies, double or even triple efforts, become more creative and innovative, and so on. You have to learn this great lesson from history.

(4) Your attitude is more important than any failure: Another reason you don’t have to accept that life has defeated you even in the face of seeming failure is that your attitude is more important than the facts of the situation. Zig Ziglar says that, “It’s not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you that will ultimately determine your success in all areas of life.” As a matter of fact, it is our attitude that turns stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

(5) Failure produces experiences that are our best teacher: There is so much to learn from adversity. Rather than despair, analyze every failure to find its root cause, see where you missed it, or what you failed to do or did wrongly. Note the changes you have to make, where and when to make them. In failure you learn what didn’t work.

It is said of Thomas Edison that he made 10,000 experiments, in his attempt to invent the electric light bulb. When he was asked by a journalist whether he considered himself a failure after so many trials without success, he answered that he had not failed, but leant 10,000 ways the thing wouldn’t work. Eventually, he went ahead to make the invention.




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