Alright! Welcome to the channel. I am so excited to welcome you to the first episode of Better and Leading You in the year 2021. So glad to have you, I believe you have started your very well, we bless God for that. You see, it is important we ask ourselves certain crucial questions about our past. While it is not good to carry on the baggage of the past in the present, it is also not good to leave the past unresolved. And so, our goal in this video is to ask that crucial question: Why Did You Fail in the Year 2020? We are in the new year and so, it could be convenient for us to just forget about the past, to forget about 2020 and then come into the new year.
While we could do that, there is this chance of us repeating certain actions, certain inactions that didn’t help us in the last year in the new year. That is why we have to be confronted with this issue so that we can become a better and a leading people. If you want to help yourself in the new year, you must confront yourself with that reality. Why did I fail in the year 2020? Because if you can know why you failed in the year 2020, you can know how not to fail in the year 2021. So, the first question we want to consider is: Did you actually fail in the year 2020?
I have actually realized that most people give excuses for their failures. When people make mistakes, they give reasons why they make mistakes. They say “I made mistake, I failed because the presidency didn’t favor me. I failed because the society didn’t help me. I failed because of Covid-19.” Now, while you could have all manner of excuses for your failure, it is important that you ask yourself that question and give yourself the right answer: Did I fail in the year 2020? And so, if you fail in the year 2020, the next question you must ask yourself is: How did I fail? What are the actions and inactions that culminated into my failure, that led me into failure or into my mistakes?
You see, if I can know how I failed, then I can know how not to fail in the new year. So, what are the things that you saw about yourself and you believe was responsible for your failure in the last year? There is an interesting story I would like to share with you in the Bible. It is in the book of 2Kings 6:6. If you understand the story, Elisha went with a group of certain sons of the prophet, they were like students in the prophetic ministry under Elisha. They went to cut down a tree and actually, they borrowed the tool that was used for this purpose. Unfortunately, the head of the axe fell into the stream of water; they cried to the man of God that what they borrowed had actually fallen into the waters. So, the man of God asked them that crucial question: Where did it fall? You see, the question is interesting for us simply because we are considering “How did you fail in the year 2020?”
You see, how you failed is also similar to the question: Where did the object fall? Because what the man of God actually did was to cut something, threw it in the exact area that the axe fell. And so, if you want to know how not to fall in the year 2021, you must know how you fell in the year 2020; you must confront yourself with that reality. I may not know it, but you do, you must be able to sit down and ask yourself that question: How did I fail? Did I fail because I do not have enough plan, or did I fail because I plan too much? Did I fail because of fear or did I fail because I took things for granted; I was too bold. You must know how you failed so that you can know the variables to alter if you must have a new experience. You know it has been said that if you do the same thing the same way, you are likely going to get the same result. And so, if you desire change, then you must change the process that culminate or result into the change that you desire.
So, the last question I want us to examine as we look at Why you failed in the years 2020 is that How many times did you fail? You see, it is important you also look at how many times you failed. You could have told yourself “I am a failure, I failed so many times in 2020.” But it is important you also confront yourself with that reality: How many times did I fail? You see, you could assume that you failed so much that you cannot count in 2020 but in reality, you actually failed a few times. So, it is important you know how many times you failed so that you don’t even judge yourself too hard. You see, you cannot continue to tell yourself “every time I do this, I just fail”, No! it is not every time that you do it that you failed, it is sometimes when you do it you fail.
When most people conduct research, they get so few samples and so, they generalize with the few sample. Because something happened to you a couple of times does not mean it happens to you every time. You must ask yourself that important question: How many times did I fail so that you will even have peace of mind and you will not be too hard on yourself. I believe very strongly that you actually did not fail too many times in the year 2020. Of course, you could have failed a couple of times, it could be because of many reasons: Because you didn’t prepare enough, because you actually plan too much, or you entertained fear in your heart or because you were distracted or because you were not disciplined; there could be many reasons why you failed in the year 2020.
But don’t forget, you didn’t fail throughout 2020. You didn’t fail every day in the year 2020. You recorded some failure, but that does not actually make you a failure. You made mistakes; it does not make you a mistake. So, it is important you have this in the right perspective. Don’t go into the new year telling yourself nothing good can come out of my life. You see, something good can come out from your life. You could have failed; you are not a failure. You could have made a few mistakes; you are not a mistake. Your mistakes don’t define you. You make mistakes your mistakes don’t make you. While looking at these things, I remembered the story of Thomas Edison, the one that invented the light bulb. You see, it has been said of him that he actually failed a couple of times; over a thousand times actually. And when he was asked the lessons he gathered from that; he said: He actually did not see himself failing in those times, he actually saw himself learning how things should not be done.
You see, 2020 could have been with a lot of mistakes, with a lot of failures for you, but if you look at it very carefully, you would notice that the experiences that you garnered in the year 2020 prepares you for the year 2021. So, I want you to have the right perspective. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You could have failed in the year 2020, it does not mean that you would repeat the same mistakes in the year 2021. Let me tell you actually, you have grown, you are growing and your performance, your productivity in the new year will be built on the mistakes of last year. What do I mean from that? There are a couple of things that you attempted in 2020 that you did not approach them in the manner that you should have approached them. Now, learning from your mistakes I believe you are better prepared to overcome them in the year 2021 and as you do that, I see you becoming a better and a leading personality, producing performances beyond the realms of your thoughts.
Alright! We have come to the end of the video; I believe you have learnt something. I want you to like this video, share your comments with me in the comments section below and also be magnanimous enough to share this video with your friends and I believe they will learn something from it. If you are new in this channel, I want you to subscribe, click the notification bell so that every time we have a new video, you are notified immediately.
Thank you for the gift of your time, till the next time I bring you another interesting episode on this channel, I want you to be A Better and A Leading You.