Do you know these teachers? They teach you whatever you need to be an achiever

ByHanna Shiferaw

Life is a journey. We all go through this journey as long as we are alive. And every life journey is composed of different phenomena. Among these failures are the major ones which we face in life.

In his Book Failing Forward, John C. Maxwell said the following; Living requires failing every now and then. …… Disappointments are more prevalent and life is full of them. Well, I am not going to talk about “failures are everywhere” speech in this article. It is not my intention to write about that. You don’t need my speech about failures because you can find them wherever and whenever in your life. I know you are well aware of them already.

The purpose of this article is that how you should handle and get the most out of the failures you face in your life. Or as Dr. Maxwell put it; ….The question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with them. I am sure not many people told you about this. Because most people usually see failures as finish lines not as starting points.

The meaning of failure is not clear for most of us. Failure doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It means try again correcting from your past mistakes. Failures are coaches that life gives you. They mentor you to be the kind of person you want to be or to the type of success you want to achieve. You need to see your failures as your personal teachers, the kind of teachers that they want to get the best out of you, despite the mistakes you do now and then. They teach you whatever you need to be an achiever. They teach you skills, techniques and abilities. They make you smarter. If you never fail, you never learn. And you cannot be an achiever.

I was reading a book about a great business man in my country Ethiopia, Bekele Molla was his name. He is a pioneer in the hotel industry. He has a chain of hotels in the country even in the remote areas. As I keep reading his biography book, I was wondering about the life journey he passed through. He came from a divorced family. He had separated from his mother in his childhood and suffered a lot of challenges as a kid.

He started business with selling chickens and eggs walking to long distances by foot, then bread and tea, then cereals. He tried every kind of business that he thought he could do. Finally, he started his hotel business. He passed through so many challenges in this too. But, he is not a kind of man who gives up easily. One of his hotels, a big resort hotel, was entirely robbed by 200 people. Another of his hotel was bombed during a war. Another was taken from him by the Government. However, he fought all the battle and became an icon in the Hotel industry in Ethiopia. He didn’t let any of his challenges or failures to stop him from keep going.            

Failure is not a finish line. It is a starting point, a new beginning. The meaning of failure is try again and harder, so that you can be a better one.