The Week That Was
I just had a hectic week with me diversifying my content to expand to a new space. I redid my website jijogeorge.com and am planning to publish all my MEdium blogs on this website gradually. The idea is to have more control over my content and use this new website to generate newer sources of income, like via Google Adsense, and affiliates. This website can also be my entry point to establish a stronger authority in the personal development niche. Do visit my website when you get a chance and let me know how it looks. On a personal front, it was more or less the same with the usual Skylar shenanigans and some socializing
This week I have been thinking a lot about in which direction I want to take my side income business ideas. Medium has gotten a bit complacent. I am getting used to the money, and I am not trying to expand further. Time is a factor, with only 4 hours a day to dedicate to side ventures, I am not able to implement the gazillion ideas I have. I am not afraid of failing, I am more afraid of not trying because of laziness that some times creeps in.
As we talk about failure, I was wondering what do u think stops you from taking steps towards working on something you are passionate about, is it fear of failure?
If this is so, then this week’s main theme may be useful to you.
Be A Failure To Find Success
A failure, a loser, a nobody, or a disappointment, are words often associated with people who fail in public. You might have come across such people in life, one who kicks you when you are down, but more often than not you would notice that these are the same people who themselves have never truly succeeded in life.
Show me a man who has never failed, and I’ll see a man who has never attempted anything.
Failure Is An Opportunity
Being from India a country of a billion where everyone is competing with one another, I know how failure is looked down upon. Right from school to graduation one used to slog for hours studying to ensure they score well in their exams, or at least not fail. Nobody wanted to learn, but just to make sure they got across the finish line.
I am not saying you should strive to fail, but that you should not fear failing. Failing should be looked at as an opportunity to re-evaluate the process of learning the subject, actually fill the gaps in your knowledge, and be through only once you have learned something new.
Failure Teaches You More
Think back to all the mistakes you have made in your life, the so-called failure, have those failures taught you more in life or the successes?
I think success can make you complacent and it is more likely you would remember less of what you barely succeeded than what you failed in.
When I used to work in an IT firm in India as a developer and had freshers train under me, I used to love answering their queries. In most cases, I knew the answers to the questions they asked not because of how thoroughly I studied the subject matter, but because most of their questions were related to the same mistakes I had made as a fresher. It took longer for me to find solutions to problems I had never come across before. Luckily in their mistakes, I too found an opportunity to learn something new.
Failure Is the First Step To Success
When I took my driving test in the US, I failed twice before finally clearing the test.
Was I sad when I failed? Of course, I was, but when I thought about it, it had more to do with what others would think about me that saddened me, not failure itself.
During the first two tests, I failed to do something that I had no idea about, if I was not made aware of those mistakes while under supervision, the same mistake without supervision could have been deadly for me. Each of the two failures helped me understand my driving better than before and potentially saved me from future pain.
Every time you fail you learn how not to approach something.
I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.
Thomas Alva Edison
There is no better example in history of this than Edison. He is said to have failed hundreds of times in life before being a success. Every failure was another step towards success.
How To Fail More?
When I say you should fail more I don’t mean purposefully make mistakes and fail often, what I actually mean is to allow yourself to fail.
Whenever you fail at something, think of how long is this failure going to impact you, would it be for 10 minutes, 10 days, or 10 years?
Failures are not permanent, but what they teach you is.
When I failed my driving test I was sad for a couple of months, inclusive of my second failure. But I tried again the third time, and I cleared. It made more sense to try again and fail rather than not try at all. This is true in everything in life, You should keep trying to get what you want, every failure will teach you how to approach the task differently.
Every failure is a teaching to chart the course of your further actions. Maybe what you failed in is genuinely not your cup of tea, and you should look at other avenues, but you would not know unless you try.
The secret to success is to fail more, and the secret to failing more is to try more. It’s better to have failed than to have never tried.
Conclusion
So go ahead, and write the blog that you have been procrastinating about wondering if it is good enough.
Start that business venture you have been thinking about for the past few years.
Reach out to your boss asking for that raise you to deserve so much.
Even the worst that can happen will teach you how to proceed in life.
Every failure is truly a success since even a failure successfully teaches you how not to do something.
It is not failure, but low aim that is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail. ― Bruce Lee
So go ahead and fail, since you will have more to share than one who has never tried.
Hope you liked this week’s newsletter and it helped you. I need to increase my audience for a greater reach, can you please be kind and share this post with a wider network of your friends for whom you think this might be helpful? Your support means a lot.
Hope you have a great year ahead.
See you again next week.
Till then
Jijo George