Fear Of Failure, By Michael Jordan

THE FEAR OF FAILURE
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” –Michael Jordan
Failure defined:
Failure, the big ugly monster, we all try to stay away from; the gift from burning hell, we all like to believe; the only thing in life we all fear by turning deathly pale, once gripped by this most feared constant in every man’s life.
Like it or not, failure is what your mind makes it to be as well as how we react every time we fail.
For some people, failure turns out to be a learning experience, as well as an opportunity for growth; but for most people, failure appears
to be a red signal implying that they are not good enough or lucky enough to make things happen (that they should quit or give up instead of persisting or trying incessantly).
The WINE OF FAILURE:
However, for people who believe that failure spells disaster, be it in their personal life or professional life, those people need to be assured that failure is a necessary part of growth.
It’s not all doom & gloom for people who have failed but failure is disaster only for people who refuse to learn, improve as well as grow from their mistakes.
As much as the world objectifies plus worships success, you would be hard pressed to find any one immensely successful person who hasn’t tasted the wine of failure.
Being intoxicated along with being impressive:
This wine of failure is drank by everyone alive or dead but super smart is the person whose mind is influenced by this liquor, so that he elevates himself both in thought as well as in action above those of mere mortals.
Thus, such a person keeps on progressing, keeps on improving under this liquor of failure.
The majority, on the other hand, is so intoxicated, so devoid of senses (when they encounter failure) that they can’t sense that failure itself serves as stairs of success, therefore, they keep standing on one stair for a very long time.
Hence, failure is unable to teach them anything, thus, blocking their path to the very success they desire.
Destroying the myth of PERFECTION:
While most of the world glorifies perfection, anyone can attest to the fact no one is perfect, that there is always imperfection in seemingly perfect people, intelligent ideas or material possessions.
Perfection is the road that leads to one destination only- failure. People who consider themselves to be perfect never believe that they need to learn or improve in anything plus they feel that they are a cut above the rest.
Perfection leads to pride which should be avoided at all costs because a truly successful person knows what a humbling experience every failure can provide; thus, he forgoes pride as well as perfection in his quest of learning from failures plus sets himself to improve in every way possible.
Step-up in success due to learning from failure:
Furthermore, failures are acceptable so long as one is learning from them, there is certainly no point in making mistakes or committing blunders that lead to failure, while at the same time, never learning anything from them.
There is a saying which goes something like- Make a mistake once only & never repeat same mistake again.
These words are important for people who realize that failure serves as a learning experience as well as a step-up in the way of success. So one should not fear failure so much that he refuses to take chances as well as NOT let go of opportunities that might have helped him on his route to success.
FEARLESSNESS- a great lie:
Besides, let me clear one thing: every person in this universe is fearful of one thing or another, anyone who claims that he is fearless is flat out lying.
If a person is religious & pious, he will definitely fear God, if a person is wealthy & affluent, he will fear poverty, if a person is physically powerful & brawny, he will fear weakness, if a person is intelligent & scholarly, he will fear ignorance or illiteracy.
But fearing something is not a crime, not doing anything about the fear, is.
LEVERAGING your fears to get the outcome you desire:
So if you fear God, you will engage in virtuous, philanthropic, moral plus righteous deeds, to help the needy, deserving people, which will allow you to connect with as well as get closer to God.
If you fear poverty, you will work harder than you ever have; you will direct your effort, your energy toward your finances, your savings, your investments, so that you become financially self-sufficient along with gaining financial independence.
If someone is a bag of bones without any muscle mass or hardly any strength, then he will perform strenuous physical exercises like squat, dead lift, clean & jerk, snatch, military press to transform his physique into a mountain of might & muscle.
Finally, if someone fears ignorance, they must jump into the ocean of knowledge, dive deep to get precious information, absorb as well as apply the knowledge to transcend ignorance, to bask in the light of knowledge &
wisdom.
EVOLVE from failure:
In a nutshell, failure serves as an impetus to evolve. To evolve means to try new or different things to get new or different results because same things get same results.
Sometimes you will fail (we all do!), sometime you will succeed, but going through all the evolution will make you a better person both on a personal level as well as on professional grounds.
Therefore, a person who has not evolved, who is not changed by life, who remains static by refusing to change, is definitely not worth emulating as well as not worth following. So, keep on evolving, keep on progressing, keep on persisting with the following words fully imprinted in your mind- an evolved person is an improved person!