Failure – The path to getting better

The Giraffe

How many times will you continue to try again after failing?

1 to 10 times – Probably

11 to 20 times – Maybe, I might

21 to 40 times – Possibly a No

41 to 100 times – A No

100 to 500 times – Definitely a big No

Most of us will probably stop at the first one itself after failing 1 to 10 times.

However, do you know, how many times we fall before we learn to walk on our two limbs, we call, legs

• a humongous 5000 times and we don’t even remember it

In fact, infants fall 17.4 times every hour while learning to walk.

And then when we grow up, we forget our repeated failures to accomplish this simple task which most other animals perform within a few minutes of their birth.

The unluckiest one’s are the Giraffes; as the new born babies get kicked by the mother who prod them to quickly walk as their survival is contingent upon them walking asap.

So, going back to humans, what is it about infancy that we are so preserving and lose that natural ability as we grow older. 

My thoughts are;

• We don’t have an alternative. 
• Everyone appreciates the effort
• No one makes fun of our failures, there is no pressure
• We get to experiment with a hell lot of more new things as we get to walk
• We love the freedom of feeling and touching new things
• Everyone appreciates even little efforts of ours
• The focus is on continuous practice and not on achieving immediate results
• And above all, we don’t know what is failure

Some of the life lessons, we learn so early and forget immediately as we grow older.  The same environment which encourages our small wins and appreciates our efforts suddenly becomes judgmental.

The mind soon gets polluted with thoughts of achieving perfection from day one, not realizing, it’s not possible.

Look at the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci and Picasso or the writings of Shakespeare when they started off, nothing close to their masterpieces we so much admire. 

Looking at them or reading those pieces can make us realize, how hard we can be on ourselves a lot of times.

So, relax have coffee, order one for me, 😊  and continue to enjoy what you do.

And yes, do share your thoughts!