“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
There are times in your lives when you think that you have failed, and you wonder if you should quit. But have you really failed? Or, have you moved a step closer to success?
If you have just begun doing something, and if the journey looks very difficult, have faith in yourself and remember that nobody is a born expert, and even your idols have worked a lot to achieve the desired success. There may be occasions when you fail to achieve something, but instead of seeing them as failures, try seeing what you have learned and achieved in the process and how your attempts have helped you to consolidate your learnings.
Every day is a new day, and hence, stop imagining your entire life based on your today’s situation. To prepare for your future, be practical, rely more on experimentation and observation, and start making concise, easy-to-revise summary notes of whatever you have experienced and learned. Stop seeing yourself as a loser, let the sorrows heal, get up again, and move forward. Ignore all the unpleasant comments of people, and be proud of what you are because it’s only you who knows how much effort you have put in. Instead of allowing failure to weaken your spirits, evaluate your strategy and the seriousness of the reasons which caused the failure. It is quite possible that you may be very close to success, thus, instead of giving up too soon, have faith in yourself, be optimistic and focus all your energies and efforts just on what your masterpiece is- where you want to see yourself.
Lyrics and word meanings
Persist, even after failures; they are stepping stones to success.
Trust yourself, even if you are a tyro(i), emulate(ii) your idols, you too can be a virtuoso(iii).
Even if you fail, don’t belittle(iv) your efforts, they have helped you to abridge(v) your learnings.
Don’t conjecture(vi) your entire future with what is presently happening.
Be provident(vii), be empirical(viii), make compendium(ix) of your learnings.
Don’t be indolent(x), wake up, be ambulatory(xi), and stride(xii) away from hopelessness.
Ignore blatant(xiii) comments of people, measure your efforts and be your own chauvinist(xiv).
Don’t let failure debilitate(xv) you, or disparage(xvi) your efforts.
Evaluate your failures; understand the gravity(xvii), faith and efforts engender(xviii) success.
Don’t give up easily, as success may be just imminent(xix), focus on your magnum opus(xx).
Difficult words covered
i) Tyro – (n) person who is an inexperienced beginner in some art, but who may be full of ambition. Someone new to a field or activity.
ii) Emulate – (v) to strive to equal or excel, usually through imitation; compete with successfully; approach or reach equality with.
iii) Virtuoso – (n) Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.
iv) Belittle – (v) To put someone down. Lessen the authority, dignity of. Express negative opinion of.
v) Abridge – (v) Reduce in scope while retaining essential elements. To condense, shorten
vi) Conjecture – (v) To believe on uncertain or tentative grounds. To deduce or infer on slight evidence.
vii) Provident – (adj) preparing for the future; providing for the future; frugal
viii) Empirical – (adj) relying on experience or observation; not merely theoretical
ix) Compendium – (n) a concise but comprehensive summary of a larger work.
x) Indolent – (adj) slow to heal, lazy.
xi) Ambulatory – (n) able to walk, after being bedridden.
xii) Stride – (n) a step in walking or running. Significant progress.
xiii) Blatant – (adj) unpleasant or offensively noisy. Without any attempt at concealment.
xiv) Chauvinist- (n) A person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind.
xv) Debilitate- (v) to weaken; to cripple.
xvi) Disparage – (v) to belittle, express a negative opinion.
xvii) Gravity – (n) a manner that is serious and solemn, seriousness.
xviii) Engender – (v) to bring into existence; to create; to cause; give rise to.
xix)Imminent – (adj) just about to happen. Close in time.
xx) Magnum opus- (n) a big work, masterpiece (usually of art or literature.)