J.K. Rowling on Failure
A couple of weeks ago, the final installment of the Harry Potter film series premiered in theaters worldwide. The whole Harry Potter franchise (both books and films) is often considered to be one of the most successful to date, becoming a landmark of a whole generation, and, doubtlessly, for many more to come.
But after all is said and done, it’s worth looking back to see how it all started. Before becoming one of the world’s most acclaimed writers, Rowling lost her job, her family and was living off state-provided welfare benefits. To most, this would seem a hopeless position to be in. Yet instead of giving up or trying to piece everything back together, Rowling found that after losing everything, she finally had the chance to pursue the work of her life. Here is how she described it:
Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy to finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
J. K. Rowling, Harvard commencement address, 2008.
This, for the thousandth time, proves the idea that often, failure is the root of success. Who could have said and shown this better than one of the iconic writers of our time?
so true!!!!!!!!!!!!