Students’ Speak: Failure is another way of learning
By: Samarth Agarwal
Generally, until the age of 12 or 13, we as a student never heard of the word "failure". Till then, we were busy enjoying our childhood days with our friends, families, playing cricket, wandering here and there, school picnics, family gatherings, and festivals, etc.
At that time, we were innocent, pure-hearted who didn't know about the real meaning of seriousness, focus, concentration, success, failures, goals, responsibilities and many other similar words that sometimes even scares us.
We were just familiar with one word which we are busy achieving named - Dream. The clean and clear brain never thought about the future, past and anything, it was just living and enjoying the present. Every boy and girl has at least one dream to become an engineer, doctor, batsman, being a rich and popular personality, singer, and dancer, etc. However, when asked regarding the steps to accomplish the ambition, the childish brain was empty and the smiling faces turned into a deeply saddened face.
The end of childhood takes place when the brain starts finding that so-called path to reach the objectives. That is the period we introspect ourselves and perform various comparisons in different aspects with others. Performing comparisons is not an evil task but considering its outcomes as positive or negative and applying the effects on yourself is the key part.
Stop thinking negative
Let's say in exams, either in coaching centers or schools, we look forward to our friend's marks and the brain automatically starts building numerous thoughts, either positive or negative, depending on marks. If it is lesser than yours, it gives you a sense of happiness but if it is higher than yours then lots of negativity and anxiety starts occupying a place in your brain. This even results in distance in friendship too (mentally) and you start thinking negatively about your friend instead of concentrating on studies.
Let us consider the next examination period. While preparing for the exams at home, we think of friend’s marks in previous exams and try to ape their way of studying so that we could also attain high scores. We forget that we are born unique, we must innovate our steps instead of copying others to obtain anything.
Analyse your weakness
The moment we see a confident and well-prepared friend, we lose our confidence and start doubting our preparation. The fear comes in our mind of scoring less than that friend. Such situations lead our brain to think of failure which causes depression, stress, anxiety, negativity, and start controlling our brain. In any competition, only one team wins. The rest of the team and team members should analyse their weaknesses instead of wasting time thinking about their loss.
Compare positively
Coming to the very first stage that is a comparison, while performing the comparison, rather than comparing with others if we do a very small compared with ourselves only, it can be fruitful to us instead of demoralising. If you consider a race in life and compare it with others, then every time you will see the outcome as failure or success. If the fight is with yourself only, then there is no place for failure at all. You will see it as a challenge and you will give yourself a target and start preparing for the next battle. We do not have to think so much of failure as if it is a big mistake, a disaster or it is the end of life. Failure is another way of learning; it tells us what we have done wrong, why we didn't succeed and how we can improve for the next opportunity.
Utilise your time in the best possible way so that in the end you will not hurry and not fear failure. We do not need to fear failure since it is part of learning. Many other opportunities are still there to grab and prove yourself. One may be specialised in one aspect and you maybe not but you may have expertise in a different field, you just need to improve yourself day by day. Analyse your weakness and working on that part is what matters the most. Whenever this kind of situation occurs, we must discuss it with families, their role is vital in motivating and encouraging yourself.
About the Author:
Samarth Agarwal is pursuing B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from ICFAI University, Dehradun. He is doing research work on 5G antennas and has published one research paper in a UGC approved journal. He is also a content writer and freelance antenna designer.
