essays
Olga Egorova
Prof. Amarnick
ENG 24
05/07/ 2019
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Being a loser is in everyone’s mind in various prospects of life! Failing an exam is one aspect of life which everyone regards with all might having a notion that exams determine the rest of their lives. While perfection is ideal for every person, every one of them believes that they have to do everything perfectly or else they will be hated and embarrassed by other people. For instance, one would consider failing an exam as a shame and be disregarded in society regardless of the efforts that they will put to present themselves to others. However, despite its other side of breaking one down, the other face of failure could strengthen one’s effort to live a successful life. Failing in a given aspect does not imply failure in the remaining ones and a strong person would resort to other alternatives and live by them with confidence.
People need to consider that the number of time that they fail does not determine their progress in their lives, but the number of times that they pick themselves up is what matters. Hence, winning a given competition should be taken to mean one’s strengths because even the weakness side of their opponents could have made them win. Also, failure is not a tragedy since it can help people win in other aspects of life upon addressing the causes of failure experienced. Failure leads people to success despite making them low once they experience in some parts of their lives.
Once we fail, there is a need to ask oneself about the possible causes of failure and address them appropriately. For instance, it could be because of lack of experience or particular knowledge for achievements. Winning requires experience, and anyone seeking to be successful should constantly practice. In article “The Art of Failing Upward” By Kate Losse she said, “Telling the story of what went wrong is a way to wring insight from failure, but it’s also a way of proclaiming membership in a community of innovators who are unafraid of taking risks”. This statement encourages the audiences to understand the aspect of success and failure concerning different aspects that they undertake. No one can be a master by completing high school alone, and every person needs experience in order to achieve something which can only be gotten through loosing and analyzing the aspects that should be fixed.
Failure teaches one to revise their plans and actions. Hence, failing in a given activity of life’s aspect could imply the plan did not work, and there is a need to make up a better strategy than the former one. Also, failure teaches a person to make proper prioritization and consideration of strategies that they use to achieve a given thing. Many people can find themselves in different situations. Failures may lead one to make a decision that will enable them to target a different field. For example, it does not make any sense to try to be a bad hairstylist if you can be a good baker. Hence, people have strengths in various fields even though they may be weak in others. Also, fiasco may not teach you anything at all; it depends on your personality, stubbornness and purposeful. Failing once is enough to stop someone from seeking the same means, plans and actions in doing something.
Failing in a given aspect teaches one humility considering that achieving their desires is not guaranteed, but it is sometimes based on luck. For instance, it will teach one how to find their weakest sides and work on them. Also, failure makes one relax and accommodate their ambitions, especially, if they wanted to win. Failures do not imply loosing since a factor of coincidence exists during a lifespan. Sometimes many things depend more on luck than on potential. For example, failure can be caused by others not using fair means to play making the opening unpleasant enough to demotivate. Sometimes losses show us how weak we really are and that we are far away from perfection. It may encourage one to the next step of your development or push you to analyze yourself.
In the article “On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus” by Jessica Bennett, the author talks about the problem that spreads among modern teenagers. Smith College promoting the idea about certificate of failure. Students are so stressed out and afraid not to be perfect, that they could not believe that someone may declare it a shout-out. Jessica Bennett. She says, "The presentation is part of a new initiative at Smith, “Failing Well,” that aims to “destigmatize failure.” Hence, this arguments are based on how people can determine the nature of their failure. The experiment try to figure out what failure is and how to discharge it. “…Students who wandered into the campus hub were faced with an unfamiliar situation: the worst failures of their peers projected onto a large screen. “I failed my first college writing exam,” one student revealed”. In the traditional sense, the college has to encourage you to be an “A” student literally from the first steps. There should be a serious problem, if they welcomed people with such a greeting.
Now people believe that without education one would succeed in life. Parents convince their kids to be lawyers or doctors. Everyone wants to get a diploma for earning money, but not for their personal development and a sense that they will spend entire life for the career that they truly enjoy. Believably, everyone who wants to pursue their dream eventually will get it even though not with the first try. Thus, the certificate of failure is determined by its nature with one side being, ‘‘failing well”. “What we’re trying to teach is that failure is not a bug of learning; it’s the feature” (Bennett).
The contribution that Bruce Springsteen has made as an American singer-songwriter and a leader is worth evaluating. Hence, evaluating his works including “E Street Band” and the book Born to Run aid in learning one’s knowledge regarding success and failures. The author said,
“Whatever it's results, the California trip would have a lasting impact on me. I got to see the country. I came up against some real talent and held my own, but the band that took us out at the Family Dog stayed with me. They were better than us, and that didn’t sit well with me. It’s not that I didn’t expect to come up against superior talent; that happens, it’s the way God planned it.” (Springsteen 137).
Bruce Springsteen exemplifies people who worked hard to achieve their desires. Somewhere, deep inside, Springsteen knew that one day he would become a great musician for feeling his power. The power was in his talent and constantly practicing his skills to enhance the experience. The author was sure that everything that he did was right and done appropriately. However, in the beginning, his talent did not give him much money, but he never quit because he did not believe in failing. Bruce Springsteen earned $20-30 per week, but he and his band did not stop playing music because of the lack of money. The author did not even have space to live sometimes, but he worked for it endeavoring to be the best. Once he has got a brilliant idea: he needed to write his songs with his music and words for being different from other musicians. Hence, some of his writings justified his thematic concern about success and failure.
Also, Bruce Springsteen wrote, “I’d been up for three days with no stimulants” (Springsteen 191). He was contagious and persistent with his goal. Bruce Springsteen and his band went through all difficulties to become a huge figure in rock music: they had problems with stuff, police, drugs, rehearsals time, and producers among others. It seems it was a long way to success. After all, he appreciated those obstacles and difficulties he met, and he was proud of himself and shared his inspiring story to millions of readers. The most important thing he said was “I was so lucky to be doing what I loved most” (Springsteen 193). This statement is a clue that gives him energy and desires not ever to quit.
Students are overwhelmed with concerns regarding their daily lives including being anorexic, being suicidal, and alcoholic. Often they “burn out” in order to satisfy their parents, teachers, and friends. “Nationally, 22 per cent of collegians now seek therapy or counselling each year, reports Daniel Eisenberg, an economist at the University of Michigan whose Healthy Minds Study annually samples 160,000 students around the country” (Marano). Hence, this argument justifies the possible causes of failure among students. From all above, it is necessary to understand that preventive measurement has to be implemented in students’ lives.
Failure does not always relate to material things is one key point mentioned by Paul Hudson in his article “6 Failures You Should Experience If You Want to Succeed in Life”. The articles argue about the interpersonal relationship with lovers, friends and even random people in one’s life. “Once you experience a falling-out with a friend, you understand yourself a little bit better and the life you hope to lead. It’s most often the company we keep that determines the life we live.” People should always be careful with people around them considering that human relationship could be fragile.
In my life, failures often meant much more than winning since they always brought some changes. My parents never required excellent grade from me in high school. I never wanted to be an “A+” student as well. For instance, when I had some difficulties with some particular subject, my parents would always encourage me and tell me, “There is nothing bad, try to pass next time”. They motivated me to try and revise a more workable strategy that would ensure success.
Work Cited
Bennett, Jessica. “On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus”. The New York Times. 24 June 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/fashion/fear-of-failure.html. Accessed 13 April 2019
Hudson, Paul. “6 Failures You Should Experience If You Want To Succeed In Life”. Elite Daily. 2 February 2015, https://www.elitedaily.com/life/motivation/failures-to-make-want-succeed-in-life/922082. Accessed 13 April 2019
Kipman, Sebastian. “15 Highly Successful People Who Failed on Their Way to Success”. Lifehack. September 20, 2018. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/15-highly-successful-people-who-failed-their-way-success.html. Accessed 13 April 2019
Losse, K. (2016, December 21). Opinion | The Art of Failing Upward. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/the-art-of-failing-upward.html?module=inline
Marano, A. E. (2015, September 1). Crisis U; Step by well-meaning step, colleges are being transformed into something more akin to mental health wards than citadels of learning. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201509/crisis-u
Springsteen, Bruce. Born to Run. Simon&Schuster Paperbacks, 2017