The Perfection of Failure
Semi-cup Final. All eyes on the goalkeeper, who's frame can barely be seen in
contrast to the vast, cold metal goalposts. Penalty shootout. Dead silence. If he
saves this, his team goes through to the final. A larger boy steps up to the
penalty spot, places the ball and stares coldly at the small child in the goals.
It's David vs Goliath. The referee blows his whistle and the striker sprints toward
the ball, his gaze unshaking. He shoots. He scores. The goalkeeper is left standing
frozen in the middle of those maasive goalposts, his fear paralyzing him, he didn't
even move. Nobody says a word but he knows what everyone is thinking. That was it.
The day I truly learned the bitter taste of failure.
Failure is something we all try to avoid. From the moment we are born, we�re taught
to succeed, to win, to be perfect. However the truth is, we all fail and when we
do, it often feels like the world is ending, and we feel worthless. But have we
stopped to consider that failure, far from being the enemy of success, is actually
one of our greatest allies? To fail is to admit you are not perfect, and once you
climb that obstacle, you shatter the ceiling holding you back.
Think about it for a moment, failure is where growth happens. It is in moments
where we fail, that we find our true self. A quote by Martin Luther King Jr comes
to mind. �The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy�. It�s a paradox, isn�t it? We fear failure because we associate it
with weakness, embarrassment, or lack of ability but in reality, every successful
person has faced failure, sometimes many times over. A famous example of this can
be found in the life of Thomas Edison who failed over 1,000 times before
successfully inventing the lightbulb. When asked about his failures, he said, �I
have not failed. I�ve just found 1,000 ways that won�t work.�
Failure forces us to reassess, adapt, and innovate. It�s easy to succeed when
everything is going smoothly, but real growth happens when we�re knocked down and
have to pick ourselves back up. This is why failure is such a powerful tool: it
teaches us resilience. It helps us refine our skills, improve our strategies, and
develop a deeper understanding of ourselves. And yet, despite its potential, many
of us still fear failure. We avoid taking risks or stepping outside our comfort
zones, thinking that we�ll never recover from a mistake. But imagine how many
opportunities we miss by clinging to that fear. Author J.K. Rowling once said, �It
is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously
that you might as well not have lived at all.��
We all wish we could be perfect but in perfection, there is no room left to
discover, innovate and improve. Do you see the beauty of failure? Failure affords
us the opportunity to live life to the fullest. In striving for perfection, we can
choose to see failure as a setback, or a step towards the state of perfection we
all so desperately long for.
In fact, failure can teach us lessons that success often can�t. When we succeed, we
feel good, but we don�t always analyze what we did right. When we fail, we have to
face our mistakes head-on. We must ask ourselves: Why did this happen? What can I
do differently next time? This is how we develop the critical thinking skills that
are essential for long-term success. When we succeed, our heads are filled with
arrogance and we believe that we don't need help from others because WE CAN DO IT
OURSELVES. Failure afford us the gift of asking for help, where people who are more
experienced can help us along our journey.
After that infamous semi-cup final match, I went on to be an even better goalkeeper
than I ever had been. Until that point, I believed that I was the best and
therefore I had no need to practice that hard because my talent was enough. That
bitter taste of failure, led me to the sweet taste of success when I received my
provincial colours 2 years later. You see, without the failure I experienced that
day, I would have remained with the false idea that there was no need for training
which would have hindered me from receiving my provincial accolades. Failure
stopped me from being an obstacle in my own journey.
Psychologist Carol Dweck�s research on �growth mindset� shows that those who view
failure as a learning opportunity, rather than a sign of incompetence, are far more
likely to achieve their goals. When we embrace failure, we embrace the chance to
evolve. Carol Dweck speaks about two mindsets, "growth" and "fixed", essentially
stating that a growth mindset is the way to success. As part of this mindset, she
states that "failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn�t define you. It�s a
problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from.� A thought-provoking she asks in
her study is "Why hide defiencies, instead of overcoming them?" . Instead of hiding
our failures, we can learn and overcome them, making us all the better.
As we navigate our academic careers and our lives, let�s not shy away from failure.
Let�s not see it as a final judgment of our worth or ability, but rather as a
stepping stone toward our success. The next time you fail, WHICH YOU WILL, try to
embrace it. Ask yourself: What is this teaching me? How can I grow from this? In
the end, failure is not a defeat�it�s a gift. A gift that helps shape who we are
and who we will become.
