Dear Entrepreneur,
Our system of education has made us detest failure. In class, we are ranked based on our academic performance, and we look upon those at the bottom, as people who are unlikely to succeed in life.
At college, the ranking is gone but replaced with a GPA and a transcript. We get an F and we have to resit. Then we get an A in it, but the previous F still affects our CGPA and is recorded on our transcript.
But that’s not how real life works. In the outside world, you fail at something, you learn, you try again more informed, and you succeed. The previous failure is not remembered by anyone, and it doesn’t in any way affects the final success.
As a culture, we have learned to reject failure but often we need to relish failure because each circumstance is just another lesson on what to do the next time around to ensure success.
As Drew Houston will say, “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” And sometimes, we get there by accident, and often it was our previous failures that got us to this point in our lives. Sometimes, failure is a door to a breadth of exciting new opportunities. Don’t let it shut. Open it, and fail.
You’re in the real world now and no longer in college; your failure is not recorded, and it will not stop you from achieving excellence.
With love,
Chidi