Failure

By Bongani Matshisi

A few months ago Werner and I asked our friends, colleagues, family and just about anyone who would speak to us what the most important lesson they’ve learnt in their lives was. People were very forthcoming and in the process we got some real gems. Over the next few weeks I will be taking a closer look at some of my favourites and sharing my thoughts on them.

To kick things off, I’ve decided to start off with what is the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far. And that is: As human being we are destined to fail and to fail often.

There is not a single person on this earth who hasn’t, at one stage, or another, failed at something. But does failing make one a failure? It depends.

In my opinion, the most important thing about failing is not to wallow in the failure but to actually learn from it. As imperfect human beings (at least those of us who challenge themselves), we are bound to trip up every once in a while. Take Thomas Edison, the American inventor, for instance. On his way to inventing the electric light bulb, Edison failed approximately 10 000 times. We now know that he didn’t give up but used each failure as an opportunity to learn.

With each failed attempt, he made a note of exactly what he'd done and what components he had used. Then he made an adjustment to the experiment and tried again. And when that "failed" he made a note of that, readjusted and tried again. He kept learning from every experiment. He learned all the ways that it wouldn't work. He discovered all the chemicals and elements that wouldn't work. And each time he found a way that wouldn't work, he knew he was closer to finding a way that would work.

When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.

Thomas Edison understood the profound secret that to succeed you have to be willing to fail and fail fast. To Edison all failure provided valuable information that he could use to correct his course, and lead him to eventual success.

So I urge you, and myself in the process, to go out there and fail. Often.