Dear Entrepreneur,
While catching up with a friend recently, she told me she was “healing from a heartbreak” as a result of two rejection letters she received very recently. And the most painful part was that she knew a few persons who got accepted. I had to share my story with her about how, for a whole year, I was always stuck as runner up or finalist, but never winning it or getting through the door.
I felt like, since I’ve done all I could do, but still not getting through, then I must not be good enough. Until someone told me, “There is time for failing and learning, which helps you build the capacity to succeed.” That statement taught me the value of determination and perseverance in the face of failure and rejection, and the next year, I was on a winning streak.
It takes guts and perseverance to build, grow and win! If you never experience failure, you will never actually appreciate success. When you overcome your emotions and formulate a recovery or come-back plan, you finally understand what determination feels like. And that’s a lesson only failure can teach us, and it’s not taught in the classroom, but in the real world.
Failure teaches us to be grateful. When we work hard and overcome obstacles, we learn deeply to appreciate what we have, even more.
With love,
Chidi