Sunday, November 22, 2009

To Fail is to Start Over Again


There are so many wise sayings about how we must start again after a failure. Yes, nobody stays as a loser all the time. Even a loser wins once a while.

An acquaintance once failed in his own business. He used up all his savings to start new businesses, one after another. These businesses failed too.

He almost gave up when a friend of his offered him a job as a franchise adviser. As he had a family to support, he accepted the offer. He made lots of mistakes when he started the job. Other younger franchise advisers thought he was eccentric and avoided him altogether.

He tried various means to get himself ready for the challenges of the job. He practically memorized the handbook and all the information given to him. He was in desperate trying to do well.

The toil was really stressful. He lost his humor and friendly smile. He stared at everyone with an empty glare. He did not know what went wrong with him. His boss was happy as he could bring in more customers than usual. His family was happy as he could bring home money. Yet, he was not happy.

One day his young daughter borrowed a story book from the town library. She left it on the dinner table. He picked it up and browse through it. He was amused with the simple story. However, he was attracted by a line at the end of the story ......

"If you have failed, then start over again. After all, failing means you have a good chance to come clean again."

This acquaintance smiled for the first time in three years. It was like his mind was cleared for the first time in years. He bought the franchise for himself and became a business owner again. Only this time, he knew he could always begin all over again as long as he did not give up hope.

Which would you choose: start all over again or mourn over your losses?