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Recipe for failure


As a child grows up, there is a constant reminder fed ad nauseum – you’ve to be successful when you grow up. There was a change in script when arguably the most adored Indian post MK Gandhi took up the cause of transforming young minds. He was loved by all. I haven’t come across any person till date who had something to say against this great man. “Don't read success stories, you will only get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success”, he said.
Some recipes for failure is what can be expected from what is commencing here onwards that has been decocted from my life experiences. Hope it helps someone who is just about ready to receive!
Be timid and you’re headed down under (not geographically!). Courage has to be up there as the most important ingredient to do anything worthwhile in life. Anyone aspiring a leadership role needs this in generous portions. More often than not courage is misunderstood as having the ability to shoot from the mouth at will without giving a care to the repercussions and Newton’s third law! That is being impetuous and has got very little in common with courage. Courage is the ability to back one’s own ability in the most adverse of situations. It also is the ability to speak the truth albeit the manner in which the truth is told also holds the key to success. Truth is potent and lies can be a shattering experience. Hence, being truthful and having the willingness to say it in a manner in which both the point is made and the morale also is kept high becomes a key ingredient to success. It is easy to be courageous when one has everything going right and situations are favourable. It is when the chips are down and still someone has the courage to do something that is right, you find a true leader. Such traits are rare, and if you find one – mark the person – the one to watch out for to be successful, if not yet, when observed. Courage, when displayed as a trait (and not exhibited pompously) is very endearing. People around start liking such a person of their own volition and sometimes get attracted involuntarily.
Being a complainer is the other one that we dive into next. Don’t we try to avoid a whining person? Just change the path when we see one, isn’t it? Guard the spoken words. Check whether one is falling into this category. Just when we start feeling something or in the worst case, everything going wrong in our lives, gratitude comes to the rescue. A grateful mind can create lasting happiness much more than the latest gadgets (small – read the latest iPhone/Samsung/Google phone or big – read the big and fancy car/the coveted bungalow). Gratitude can be practiced voluntarily initially and with time it becomes a part of our lives. A person with gratitude in the heart is by default a happier one and no matter what the measure of success is, there isn’t anyone who can be called a success if there is no happiness. After all, the ultimate aim is to reach a stage where we feel happy and that is success which will last longer than short-term goals which we construe as success.
Just some points to ponder on where we are headed in our own journeys to our own successes.

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