I think the success to anything does not simply lie on "Failure is
okay; just keep doing it till successful." This is wrong. It urges you
to blindly risk whatever it takes in hope that success would come at the
end. Of course, success will come after a string of failures but at
what price you have paid for it? And when? I hope it will come before
your life candle runs out. You won't have a clue about the answers
because your mantra lies solely on the foundation of hope rather than
reality.
Failure is NOT okay. You are constructing a tall building, for
instance. When it collapses and kill a bunch of people, it is NOT okay
for you to say, "Nah... I'll just buy more cement and build it again.
After a few more collapses, one will stand tall." This is not a
statement you will hear from a sane person.
Likewise, if you are a doctor performing a life-threatening surgery
on this person, it is NOT okay to say, "I'm going to try removing this
black-yellow thing out. Here it goes nothing..." And then the person
dies, and you say, "Ops! Hehehe another failure. I did it again! But
it's okay." This is not from the mouth of a sane doctor.
Well, don't get me wrong. I am not an expert in this success and
failure things. At least I know what works for me and what not. Now I am
struggling to be successful myself. In finance and business, I think I
have done a pretty good job, having gone from a kid waiting for dollars
from his parents to a financial-independent adult running a company in
another country. In education, I think I have done a pretty good job
too, having transformed myself from a kid who "believes everything
people say because he doesn't know much" to an adult who "questions
things around him and finds out the truth and what not."
My mantra on success is that, to be successful, one has to understand
and manage the risk (and reward) very well. There is no excuse, and
there is no easy way to cheat your way around it.
For every business venture, you must pen your ways to achieving the
objectives. You are selling clothes, for instance. One of your
objectives would be to maximize your profits. Ask yourself how you would
do it, what tools you will need, whose expertises you will hire, how
much money you will need to keep the cash flow healthy, and last but not
least how much time you will consume. You absolutely must not try your
ideas out blindly because you think it's cool and that failure is
acceptable. If you do that, you will fail, period.
For risk management, you should be aware of the obstacles, big and
small, that you may face, and then plan out how you would absorb such
impacts on your project. You are buying and selling properties or
stocks, for instance. One of the prominent risks is that the prices
could fall. What if it falls by 20%, what would you do? Would you sell
it as soon as possible? Or would you hold on to it until the prices fall
by 50% or even more? Or would you need certain data to make decision?
You should never wait for problems to arise first to plan out the
solutions later, or you could be too late to solve it.
To conclude, there are three outcomes when people do stuff. One,
failed. Two, successful. Three, neither failed nor successful. It is
common for people to make mistakes and to fail; however, one should try
his best to minimize the chance of failure by managing the risk
accordingly. If it does fail, allow it to fail gracefully and
controllably. In case of doubt, he should all together avoid the risks
that do not suit his risk profile. If the opportunity is too risky, just
pass it. Only play on what you can afford to lose, 'cause if you screw
it up big time, that one big time, you might end up living on the street
screaming why heaven did not help.
There are those rich people out there who write books and do
seminars, and they spread lies just to pimp money from your pocket. Are
you sure that people like Donald Trump tells you his business secrets in
a $19.99 book so that you would become a better competitor who would
then bring down his billion-dollar empire? Think about it. Well, I hope
you find this article helpful one way or another.
