People in our society demean failure and those who fail. Our society only focuses on the result and refuses to see the effort. Without because ‘Failures are an inseparable and inescapable part of human life and a critically important part of any success journey.’ Success will lose its meaning if failure is not in the picture. So to taste success, it’s essential to fail in life.
Allwyn Yesudas has encountered failure multiple times in his life, but each time he struggled and stood back to fight again with the same enthusiasm. He is an author of three novels and an audiobook on Pocket FM. All of them failed to grab the attention of the masses, but he hasn’t lost hope, and he is coming back with another book. Let us know his journey.
Failure is Key to Success – Allwyn Yesudas – My Story
I’m Allwyn Yesudas. I come from a South Indian Tamil Family, but my hometown is Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. I did my schooling at St. Gabriel’s Senior Secondary School, Jabalpur, and Graduation from St. Aloysius’ College, Jabalpur.
More than “living a life” has been “learning with life” at every step. My name is Allwyn, which symbolizes ‘Winning everything,’ but the opposite thing keeps happening in my life. My experiences taught me that life is all about winning over failures.
I encountered my first failure in the 12th standard because I failed to clear it and passed it on the second attempt. Failing in the 12th standard was the most significant turning point. I want to consider it as my worst time.’ However, it was beneficial too because I sat in a corner to analyze myself and my life. It took years to settle down with failure, but they say it correctly ‘What doesn’t break you, make you.’ It did make me what I am today.
Like every middle-class family, my parent, especially my mom, wanted me to go for a government job. But from my childhood, I loved exploring things. I never wanted to settle down for a nine-to-five job and wait for my salary to arrive. I was way more creative than this, and I loved doing experiments. I was never afraid of failure. Instead, I would love to experiment and fail than sit idol, presume things and never give it a try.
So I didn’t prepare for any government exam, and I never targeted any academic course as my career goal. Writing held a special place in my heart as if it was inbuilt in me. It just required that kick-start that happened when I was in Indore. At that time, I was working as an Insurance Manager and earning well at the early stage of my career. But fate had different plans for me.
On one weekend in the evening, my colleagues gathered to drink. They were enjoying the meeting. I was sitting alone in a corner because I had always avoided such gatherings. To pass my time, I grabbed the best-selling novel to read. It fascinated me, and I was keen to know what was on the next page.
A few days later, one of my friends suggested one book to read. For the first time in my life, I experienced the power of pen & paper. It made me realize that even I can create such fictional stories. I didn’t have a laptop or desktop. So I borrowed it from one of my friends, and then I wrote my first novel, “The 16th Face-Off”.
When I wrote my first novel, ‘The 16th Face Off’ I was over the moon. I could take it wherever I want, and anyone will publish it. Though my publishers made me realize that you need to be a big name to be sponsored and to get published. If you don’t have that big tag, no one will show interest in circulating your work.
I wasn’t aware of the process of publishing. Through Google, I got the information of those things I was supposed to send to a publisher for approval and then have to take it forward for the other printing process. I remember the date when I completed writing my first draft. It was 30th April 2017.
After finishing the book, I began sending it to publishers, only they rejected it. This rejection saga continued for almost two years, and still, I didn’t get anyone who would say, ‘Yes, we liked your work, and we will publish it.’ Their statement was clear ‘I’ll need to work more on the script to make it best.’
Then, every time I sent it to any publisher, I sat and edited my work. But the result remained the same. One publisher became so irritated that he even abused me and stated that ‘A seventh standard child can write much better than me.’ I thanked him for his words, took the chat screenshot, and saved it in my drive. It’s still here with me.
One day, I learned about the self-publishing tool that was recently introduced in India. I thought of giving it a try. While dealing with all these ups and downs, kind of a roller coaster ride going on in my life, I was working as a school teacher, where I served for two years. On 30th April 2019, I resigned from the post.
While going back home, I wondered how to start my life from here as no salary would be credited to my account. I came back home and spotted my mother scooping up ice cream from one family pack she had bought.
I just picked one cup and perched it on the bed. She followed me and sat beside me. She said, ‘You enjoy ice cream without knowing its reason.’ And then she passed a parcel to me that had arrived the same day. That parcel was the hard copy of my first novel. I was overwhelmed when I took the book in my hand. Honestly, I still cannot express that moment in words. It was mesmerizing.
To be continued in the second part.
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