It was 1967. There was an air of excitement that grasped the Cape Canaveral Air Force station. It was the pre-launch of the Apollo-1 spacecraft. A historic moment for all the thousands of men and women who had worked tirelessly towards the almost absurd goal of putting a man on the moon. If it were to be successful, the flight would get a go. The dream would become a reality. The dream that had captured the imagination of that generation across race, sex, colour of skin, or even nationality, hinged on this tiny capsule going to LEO(Low Earth Orbit) and back.
But Alas! The flight never took off. The pressurized hydrogen-filled cabin burst into flames because of a tiny mishap. Just imagine, millions of dollars, years of hard work & the lives of three soon to be astronauts were wasted because of a tiny electrical fault.
It was easy to just give up. The accident was so horrible in every sense of the word. It was easy to drown in the somberness of it all. Even the investigations were so heartbreaking that most people had lost any hope that there would be any humans on the moon anytime soon.
But such is the nature of dreamers. there are bound to be failures along the way when you try to achieve the improbable. But if you want to succeed, you have got to have the courage to accept your mistakes, take them on the chin, and try again. And that’s what the people at NASA did. They accepted the mistake, but they didn’t stop. The dream stayed on. Their dedication to this outrageous goal never waivered, and the result is something that we marvel at even after 50 years from the event.
The above incident is probably the most fitting example of how courage and willpower to improve can make even seemingly the most impossible thing possible. This teaches us that to be successful, it is not necessary that you never fail. As human beings, we are bound to make mistakes, we are bound to slip up. But what defines us is the courage to try again. Where we end up in our lives isn’t determined by how many failures we have had, but rather how we dealt with those failures and how we approached our lives after the fact. As a wise man once said, “There are no failures, only opportunities to learn”.
Now , as we are talking about getting success, we ought to know how to define success. What is success really? Is it having a certain amount of wealth? Is it achieving some ridiculous goal that others can’t even dream of? Is it becoming the most powerful man on the planet?
Well, if we track back to our history, we will find different definitions of success. For a painter, success may seem like people’s appreciation of his work. For a teacher, it may be getting the love and respect of his students. For an army man, it may be winning a bloody battle for his country. And for someone like Elon Musk, success may be taking your last breath on the isolated sand desert that is Mars. The point is that we humans are very different from one another and for everyone the definition of success varies. And in turn, our approaches to life also varies. But one thing is for certain. Everybody craves success. Some, like Tim Ferris, see success as only having to work 4 hours a week, while others, like Bill Gates, see success as being able to cure diseases in Africa. But all of them do want success. Because success provides us happiness. It provides our brains with relentless flow of dopamine, and we all love it when we get it.
But the definition of success also changes as we move forward in life. What may seem like success today, may not seem so 20 years down the line. There have been multiple instances of people on the top of their field, getting fed up of the materialization of it all, and leaving everything to just spend quality time with their family. Because with age and wisdom, the definition of success changes for all of us, no matter who we are, or what we do.
Now, as we more or less know what success is, how do we get it? How can we become successful? Relentless hard work? Stroke of luck? Unfettered optimism? What is the secret sauce of success?
Well, if history tells us anything, it is the people who try the hardest, even when they fail a thousand times, even when no one believes in them, even when all the odds are against them, are the ones that are eventually successful. This is why the role of learning from failures is the most crucial part of getting success. And this is evident throughout history.
Thomas Edison, one of the wealthiest men of his time, and one of the most successful, didn’t need to invent the lightbulb to become successful. He had already been a master inventor and was a success in everyone else’s book. But he kept trying to bring his vision into reality. And he failed miserably at it. Not once or twice but 10000 times. But he kept trying and eventually the light bulb was a reality.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, has seen success like very few people on earth. But so is the case with the failures that he has been through. When he started Tesla, he put all his money that he had earned from creating and selling PayPal, into a company that made electric cars. Sure it seems reasonable now. But back when he started, people thought he was crazy. Tesla was on the brink of bankruptcy, but Elon persisted. And sure enough it not only survived, but now is one of the most valuable companies out there. Then he put most of his money in creating a private rocket company. Even his heroes like Neil Armstrong were against the idea of private space companies. The first three launches were failures. Again, his company was nearing bankruptcy. But they hung on. The fourth launch was a success. Now looking at how SpaceX is sending astronauts to ISS, wouldn’t it have been a pity if Elon and his team had just given up? The world was laughing at them. No one thought it was a viable endeavour, but he persisted. And the world is a lot more interesting for it.
By any definition may we define success, the one quality that we can find in every person who has been successful in his field, is dedication. Dedication to one’s dreams. To never give up. To always get better. To always improve at one’s craft. Because one may not be good enough at something today, but with hard work and dedication, one can surely be better at it tomorrow.
Look at JK Rowling. She had no literary connections, and her first Harry Potter book was rejected by more than 20 publications. Imagine if she had given up. Imagine if she had stopped writing. But she never did. She caught a break from one publishing house, and then the rest is history. The lives of millions of people, including me, is richer for the wizarding world that she created and was dedicated to bring into life.
As human beings, we are prone to failures. We are prone to mistakes. But it is our attitude in those moments of failure that determines whether or not we acquire the success that we seek. Because most people will just give up after failing once or twice. They will blame circumstances, society, everyone else, but will not accept their own mistakes. Because it takes guts to admit one’s mistakes. And a hell of a lot of courage to stay dedicated in the face of failures. That’s why it is those select few, that not only have the courage to accept their mistakes, but also the dedication to improve, are the ones to eventually achieve the success that they desire.
The Quest for Essence 