Failure is an opportunity to succeed Chapter one

Failure is an opportunity to succeed 

By Paul Mashauri

Chapter One

Failure is a Perspective

Failure is an opportunity to succeed. You may have read or hear different authors and dictionaries define failure differently but from my personal life experience and from the lives of many people including those who made history  the scientists, poets, iconic leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers  etc I have invented a new and practical definition of failure and that is failure is an opportunity to succeed.

Everything in life is a perspective and that perspective is what determines  how you live your life and how you give meaning to things in life. What did you know when you were young? how did you know that what you slept on was a bed? how did you know that what you were eating was food? actually you knew that because someone told you so and the one who taught you the same learned it somewhere because at a particular point in life, someone somewhere decided to give meaning to food and paper and bed and everything you see, feel and touch. The same way to failure. Who told you that not being able to meet your goal is failure? and who told you that being able to meet your goal is success? who told you that not going to university is failure and graduating with A class  is a success?  these questions look funny and odd but are very fundamental questions to ask ourselves in order  to build our own perspective of the so called failure and how that perspective can change our life for better. So let us think in an opposite direction for a while.

The nature of failure

The nature of life gives everyone an opportunity to be a child. In my lifetime, I have never heard someone who was once an adult and grows backward to become a child. Growing up as a child you start learning so many things mostly taught to us by the people who raise us up including parents and teachers. Our families and schools of course nowadays peers and media; televisions, radio, the internet and social media introduce to us standards which  we are expected to behave according to and are same standards  which measure our performance as children in different areas of life. At a certain age for example a child is expected to start speaking or standing up or walking and not being able to achieve that standard is considered a failure. I remember when I started my primary  education back n 1988 while at first grade, I was introduced to the world of grades. When we were given exams for example, our results were categorised  into A, B, C, D and E where as whoever could not make it to a particular level especially  E was considered failure. Because of those standards therefore, students who attained A level performance were considered excellent, B level performance were considered Very Good, C level performance were considered Good, D level performance were considered Fair and E level performance were considered Failure. In the school I was, teachers  would convene an assembly  and list all the students from the first to the last in accordance  to their grades. That is in academic, but it’s the same model that’s applicable in every facets of life in business, sports, career, social and leadership life. It’s the standards we or the society has set for ourselves that defines our failure or success in life. May be an important question to ponder at this juncture is; reflecting back your life from childhood to adulthood, in what cases were you considered a failure, what were the standards, who did set the standards and what were the essence  of those standards?

The standards of failure and success

In order to respond to the question of standards, one must understand  the purpose of life at first place. In fact it’s so complicated for a human mind to understand life as a whole but differently from animals, we have been given a certain level of intelligence  to imagine, to think and create. What do you think is the purpose  of your life? why are you here and why should you be here? understanding life and taking time to ask yourself such a difficult question is important as it sets the ground for every other choice, decision and more importantly your own way of giving meaning to things against every standard in your life being academic, career, business etc. Each one of us must trouble himself to find out his or her purpose in life in a process  of self discovery. No one including myself may not be able to precisely tell you what is your purpose in life but we can always receive  inspiration and motivation to engage ourselves  in the journey to discover the purpose of God to create us and put us on mother earth.

However, I would wish to share my personal philosophy just to give you a hint of how the process to self discovery works and what it may mean to you as you try to develop your own standards to be aligned or against the standards we are willing or forced to conform  in our daily lives. At the age of fourteen, I realised that I loved doing something  different. I was more excited in creating something new, making something different than anything else. When I was exposed to a new environment, I would go around looking at what doesn’t work, what is not there and I figured out what should  I do to make a difference. In fact I remember when I was in form five, I realised that the school that I joined had no a debating club, so I made  it my goal to mobilise my fellow students to start a debate club and we did it. Similarly, when I joined the University of Dar es Salaam back in 2001 I realised that there were amazing  things happening at the University yet there were so much I thought were happening  which were not happening at the Hill. So what I decided was to start doing the things that were not happening. As you can see now, the process of discovering who I am, what I deeply feel inside what not a one year  event, it was a process and still it’s an going journey. But this is to say that making a difference  is part of who I am. It  partly answer the question what is more probable my purpose of life.

Before this realisation I  used to wonder why I had the energy, why I was so excited starting a new thing, pushing to give life to something new and moving against all odds to make the impossible possible. At my 34 years of age, I have started four businesses and a number of projects in various sectors from business to entertainment, speaking engagement to writing. Even when I started producing movies in 2014, a lot of people were wondering how I switched from an entrepreneur, a motivational speaker to an actor. Some said Paul is the junk of all trade. But what was not known to them was the fact that I am a passionate change maker. I love making benchmarks and setting new standards. I am excited by giving birth to new things than being praised for doing or accumulating more. Doing so makes me feel fulfilled and successful. Starting something new is always difficult and it is a painful process as you have to go beyond your comfort zone but to me it has always  been easy no mater how many barriers I have to go through because I am passionate about it and I do it with a lot of fun. When I started writing this book I had no idea of how books are written and I never had written a book before. I didn’t hire a consultant and I didn't  have a publisher who expressed an intent to publish my book. All that I had was the excitement to do something I have never done before. Yes, I used to speak and write  articles  but I never wrote a book, it was a new endeavour. But the excitement of doing something new, the excitement of making a difference and break a record in my own life, the excitement of putting my experience and ideas in a book in order  to make a difference is someone’s life is what encouraged me to move on.

What is it that you can not live without? what is it that you can keep on doing no matter  the challenges ahead of you. What is it that can push you to face the unknown? What is that that when you do you feel morally satisfied and enriched regardless of the material gain in return. What is it that you do that everyone else says Yes this is different. What is it that makes you feel at peace and inspired. What is it that drives you crazy that you can skip a meal at the middle of execution. What is it that you can sleep with and wake up at the mid of the night because new ideas are coming up? that is part of who you are, part of your talents God has endowed you with and a gift to the rest of us in the world.

Once you discover who you are and what is your purpose in this life then it becomes easy for you to set up your own standards of success and failure against all other standards we are trained to accept as we grow up in life. It helps you understand that failure is not universal  and that what is considered failure is not necessarily failure rather a meaning attached to it according to one’s cultural perspective of what constitute failure and success. When you set your standards it’s important not to ignore other standards set in other spheres of life recognising  the fact that you are not living in an isolated island. At the end of the day, we must subscribe  to a set of standards in our social, moral, spiritual and professional life which enables us to co-exist with other members of the human family including our relatives, our friends, business partners, funs etc. What is important to remember when merging your standards and other standards is the truth  that what others may consider failure or success in accordance to their standards should not define you as a failure or successful. You must always get back to your drawing table and reflect upon your set of standards against your purpose in life. And even when you realise that you are not achieving your standards wether high or law, that should not make you feel a failure rather inspire you to learn what works and what doesn’t work in a given situation.

Quote

when you lose you have not failed, you have succeeded  to learn what works and what doesn’t work-Paul Mashauri

Practical Guideline

This section intends to help you reflect, associate, connect and classify concepts in Chapter one in-order to internalise and apply some of these concepts in your life. Life is a work in progress and there is no point in life when one becomes a complete  product. So it’s important to be as honest as you can as you approach the questions about yourself, your habits, your perceptions and your attitude. The questions and commitments  in this section is for yourself. Try as much as you can to respond to the questions and honour the commitments  you set for yourself for these ideas to not just inspire you but add value in your life

Questions

1.    What does failure mean to me?

What is my new perspective of failure from today onwards…………………

2.  What have been the standards which defined  success and failure in my life?

What are my new standards of success and failure in life………………………….

3. List down three activities you shall work on this week to transform what you considered failures into opportunities