“I think we deserve the freedom of failure.”
— Xerxes Desai, Made In India: A Titan Story
The latest biographical Made in India: A Titan Story beautifully chronicles how Titan watches became a household name and reminds us that we all deserve the freedom of failure. That underlines the role of failure in the journey to success.
It wasn’t a smooth ride; it was the fruit of intense effort by a passionate, resilient team who kept falling and getting up, over and over again. But that’s what shaped their future with the learnings, and thinking beyond the failure.
So here’s a question worth sitting with:
What does it mean to truly believe it’s okay to fail?
It means your focus shifts from questions like “Why did you do this?” to “What’s next?” or “What can I do now?”
That single shift in language, called reframing, moves you from the weight of blame to the clarity of action. It acknowledges the mistake without making it your identity. When the reason of failure is you and not dependent on any external factor, then the chance of success doubles as it’s you who has to do the necessary to succeed. And that’s in your control.
Celebrating a mistake isn’t denial. It’s the ability, as Daniel Goleman describes, to feel the discomfort without being consumed by it, and to redirect your energy toward what comes next.
It is perfectly okay to make mistakes and fail, but the mistake must evolve. If a mistake is repeated many times, it becomes a loop. When you make a mental note of what to do differently, you make the failure worth it.
Give yourself the freedom to fall. It’s the only way to learn how to rise and the only way you’ll ever give those around you the same gift.
