Quote For Inspiration by Jonathan

Quote For Inspiration by Jonathan - February 2014 Scholarship Essay

One of my favorite quotes to recite when I need inspiration comes from Henry Ford, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” There is more truth in that statement than most of us would care to admit. It still hurts to fail, to lose, or to not reach the goal; but reading these words from Ford helps me realize that it doesn't have to end this way. Missing the mark is not the end, ceasing to try again would be. So I get up, evaluate what went wrong, and start over with the new insights I have gained. For example, I've noticed that when playing chess, the winner doesn't learn as much from the win as the loser does from the loss. The loser looks back and sees the mistakes that caused his loss and from these he is able to rework his strategy. The winner just knows he won. He gains minimal insight on how to improve. I enjoy winning at chess. However, I learn more from losing once to a worthy opponent than winning a dozen games against a novice.

If I have already mastered something, there is nothing left to glean. Succeeding over and over on that same task will not teach me anything I don't already know. I must try new things to grow and to learn. If I fail while trying to achieve that which I have never accomplished, I still gain valuable experience. I just did not get the desired result. Each time I try and don't succeed, I try to ascertain what caused my shortcomings and use that knowledge in my next attempt. Failure should not be looked upon as a degrading ending to a sad story, but simply as a restart button, “...the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Someone once asked Edison how he felt about his 2,000 unsuccessful attempts to create the electric light-bulb. His response was, “I didn't fail, I discovered 2,000 ways how not to make a light-bulb and one that worked.”

An appropriate illustration of this in my own life is my miniature boat building project. Every time my boat broke, sank, or just didn't perform the way I thought it should, I would evaluate what caused the problem and fix it using the insights gained from the defect. If the mast on the model snapped, I built a stronger one. If the boat sank, I added buoyancy. Having something go wrong isn't the sign to give up, but the chance to start anew and to improve. I have often noticed that success is exponentially sweeter after failure than success on the first try.

After mastering model boat building, I went on to build a full size catamaran (a two-hulled boat) and sailed it on a nearby lake. It was thirteen feet long, six feet wide, and made completely out of wood. It's twin eighteen inch wide hulls were joined together by the four foot by six foot deck. It was a sleek, sea-worthy vessel that was capable of holding 400 pounds. That day on the lake is one of my all-time favorite memories. I used all the experience I had gained from trial and error on my models and some knowledge from boat building books I had checked out of the county library to create something I was proud of. All the insignificant failures of my previous building experiences were forgotten in that grand moment of success. If I had given up because of a trivial mishap on one of my models, I would never have experienced that fulfilling moment of sailing a full-sized boat across the lake.

Granted, there are things in life at which I only get one chance. However, failure in those just means there is opportunity for achievement elsewhere. Embracing the viewpoint expressed in Ford's quote brightens my outlook on life on the days that are darkened by unfulfilled expectations. Success comes in the end if I keep trying; failure is just part of the journey.