Summary: Failure is inevitable and is an awesome opportunity to learn and grow. However, we can’t dwell on our failure, and must continue to move forward.

Oh boy. This is going to be a hard section to write.

I believe in the importance of failure for learning.

At least, that’s what I say after I’ve failed countless times. It’s impossible to be a completely virtuous human with a crystal clear conscience. If you are, send me a message and let’s chat because I need some insight from you. Otherwise, if you’re human like the rest of us, chances are that you’ve felt like a piece of shit before (send me a message as well if you want to chat).

Some of my most significant failures included a pretty major lapse of judgement from my behalf when I was setting up for an assembly at school and wasn’t able to control myself, others include competitions known as Science Olympiads, alongside the occasional academic failure (looking at you, HSC Agriculture) and applications to various summer programs.

How did I cope with these failures? Truth is that I didn’t. I remember those most significant failures like they were yesterday, mostly because they ate me up and spat me out. They invaded my mind and never let go, no matter how hard I tried. It was only through time and genuine conversations with friends and family that I was able to forgive myself for trying my best and eventually failing.

There’s this idea of regret which I find insanely interesting; I explicate on it here.

Though I don’t align myself to a particular religion, I believe that there is some sort of supernatural force determining how the world operates, but ultimately the only thing you have control over is your own decisions and actions. I think everything happens for a reason, and you can wallow in sadness or move forward. Life is like a game of chess - once you make a bad move, you can continue to mess up or you can pick yourself back up again and move on. So nowadays, every time I come across a failure, I take a bit of time to feel sorry for myself, usually going to the gym or saying to myself that I “can’t change it” and that “it is what it is”. Then, I try to take it as a learning opportunity. What went wrong? How can I not make the same mistake again?

An extension of this idea is that sometimes, the world may decree that today, you are luckier than a fellow human. But it’s up to you to take advantage of that luck - otherwise, it is useless.

I’ll leave you with some insanely good quotes from Steve Jobs, from his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech.

• “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference. ”

• “It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.”