I came across two remarkable news items this week.British TV has a programme called Britain's Got Talent. Wherever the idea for the programme originated, the idea has been exported, even to China. China now has a TV show called China's Got Talent.
Liu Wei is a young Chinese living in Beijing. When he was 10 years old, while playing hide and seek, he was electrocuted. As a result, he lost both arms. That done, he decided he had two options: abandon all his dreams, leading to a quick, hopeless death, or struggle without arms, as he puts it, "to live life splendidly."
He learned to play the piano, and plays the piano on China's Got Talent - with his feet.
"It's my hobby, my passion," he told the programme's judges. "Whatever I want to do, I have to do it to the end." (You can see a video of his performance on the show by clicking here.)
And the second news item?
New research published in the Academy of Management Journal, led by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the United States' University of Colorado Denver Business School, shows that failure is a better teacher than success. In other words, when we succeed at something, we tend not to pay too much attention to the mechanics of our success. When we fail, we learn lessons, and the knowledge that comes as a result stays with us much longer.
The professor cites the spaceflights Atlantis and Columbia. During the Atlantis flight, a piece of insulation broke off, but did not impede the flight. The flight was considered a success and there was little investigation.
During the Columbia flight, a piece of insulation broke off, and the shuttle and its crew were destroyed. The flight was a failure. Flights were suspended and a major investigation recommended 29 changes to prevent a repetition.
Have you ever failed at something? Maybe you felt God wanted you to do something, and when it came to it, you blew it.
When you fail, it's easy to decide you can't do it and you're never going to make it. Don't give in to despair. The one who loses out is not the one who fails, but the one who stops trying. When you fail, don't quit. Consider your failure a step on the way to success.
