Life is not a bed of roses. You cannot expect to achieve your dreams without experiencing multiple hurdles along your way. And there is hardly anyone better than Dave Shah to tell you about why failure is essential in your life.
Dave is only 22. But he is already a GoPro athlete, a professional kiteboarder, and the CEO of a software development company. In fact, he became a professional kiteboarder when he was 14. However, the journey was not so easy for him. Like many, he had failed miserably in kiteboarding during his early years. But Dave was not one to give up on his passion.
Failure taught him to try harder the next time. Every time he failed to master a kiteboarding trick, he went back to train harder. Finally, at the age of 15, after years of effort, he locked in sponsorships from some of the leading brands.
Failure reveals your personality
According to Dave, failure reveals your personality. Do you stop pursuing your goals after failing multiple times, or do you use your failures as your shield to build a better future? If you belong to the first category, you need to re-strategize. Every goal or dream you pursue will present their own challenges. If you keep changing your goals, you would never achieve one in the first place.
Dave belongs to the second category. He is not afraid of taking risks to achieve his goals, even if it means failing multiple times. During his years of learning to kiteboard, his role models, including Richard Branson, taught him to embrace fearlessness, driving him to take chances even without a complete understanding of the possible outcomes. He advises everyone to adopt that attitude and learn from their mistakes.
Failure makes you stronger
Failures may break your heart. But you shouldn’t look at your failure as the end of the world. Instead, you should build on your failures and become a stronger person, determined to overcome all of your shortcomings to achieve your goals.
When Dave was 15, he met one of his idols. Dave was confident that they would consider him as an intern in their firm. Little did he know that his idol would turn him down.
That was a wakeup call for Dave. Instead of thinking he had zero-talent, Dave came up with a food-delivery app that became successful with significant traction quickly. He always advises everyone to overcome the fear of failure in life. While it may sound ridiculous, you should look at the bigger picture of the message he wants to convey.
Failures are part of everyone’s life. Someone may fail in their exams, relationships, businesses, or sports. But how do you tackle failure? Do you cry about the failed results or try a different strategy to win the next time? Mourning takes you nowhere. Instead, you should be determined about your vision; you should work harder to rectify your mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the more experienced you become. And the more experienced you become, the better chance you have of achieving your goals.
