Chapter V: The Earth Turns Upside-down
Made manga, bullied…
Wrote novel, publishers rejected…
University student, not finished…
Business, bankrupt…
Yes…that’s our
track record for almost 5 years…
Confused, stressful, depressed, frustrated, but in the middle of desperate moment, one thing truly made us more grateful and realized is…
In a rather
quiet street pavement, I was taking a walk while kept thinking, Sh*t! Why we always fail? Saw there was a book seller who hung on the
edge of the pavement. There was nothing special about it, just common books,
the seller was just a middle-aged man, not a 
.
I was half running stopped immediately as if got frozen to see the book. I must have this book, for some reason
this was the first time I felt really wanting to read a self-improvement book,
whereas before I was lazy to read books, even I just look at the drawing when reading
manga.
“How much?” I held the book. (of course I held the book…you think I held the seller’s hand sweetly?!?)
“US$3, Sir,” he replied with a friendly smile.
I opened my
wallet and…jreng! A sheet of US$5 left.
Usually when I had money, I’d buy food immediately, especially with US$5
dollars I could buy 5 servings of strawberry ice cream cone, right? But this
time didn’t know why the will to have the book wasn’t bearable (I couldn’t hold
it anymore!). Finally I bought the book.
I got home,
immediately read the pink book while lying relaxed on the bed…a few hours after
reading the book…PLAK! 
It felt like my
cheek slapped by God. Like this book was God’s commandment to move on, and to
eliminate frustrations for over 4 years of failure.
The Magic of Thinking Big ... this book was the beginning of a huge revolution in my mind and mentality. And started from there we so often read self-improvement books, attended motivation seminars, watching inspirational movies, and slowly but surely our mind and mentality changed so much better and more positive. This moment coincided with the fifth anniversary of KF ...
"Why are we so many times failed?" I asked Sam in a weekly gathering time.
"Why, Don, why?"
"Our novel rejected, it was not the publisher's fault! Business went bankrupt, it wasn't someone's fault! We failed, it's not God's fault!"
"So ... whose fault?"
"It's us ... yeah! We're the one to blame. Not us, but our mind and attitude!"
For a moment the two of us could only reflect and pause as if saw Medusa's eyes.
"You want to have better mind set and mental attitude?" I broke the silence with a question to Sam.
"Yeah, I do ..." He replied in a low voice.
"On the fifth anniversary of KF
, we woke our dreams up which have been fallen asleep ...
"Next time we face all with different mind and attitude from previous years."
"Aye aye, Captain!"
Learning so many from our idols, such as Thomas Alva Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Wright Bros., And friends, our mind set and mental attitude like a computer that has been infected by deadly virus (even the antivirus got infected)
, and it was .. the time to re-format From this experience, we found a philosophy of KF, namely the philosophy of bamboo tree. Check out the video if you want to know:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV4nrc8Wo0E
Back to the story ...
I opened the bookcase in my room ... an office-worker's-briefcase-sized box looked a bit dusty. I wiped some dirt on the surface of the box, and quickly opened the box ... looked hundreds sheets of papers abandoned for some time .. . one by one sheet was read carefully ...
"If I were the editor of a publisher ... I also definitely not interested to publish this novel manuscript ... we still have to learn a lot ..."
Yes, from that moment, we both back to rewrite the novel a few years ago constantly rejected by publishers. Without thinking twice, at the back of my house we set a fire, and ... blush! Manuscript of 402 pages of A4 papers, font Times New Roman 12 pt with 1.5 spacing thrown into the burning flames 
... if you are a loyal fan of the anime / manga 'One Piece', you must know the 'heartbreaking moment' when the ship Going Merry burned? Yes, more or less it Happened so ... Goodbye, Past ...
Chapter VI: Long Stairs to Asgard
Right in front
of the computer screen, with the ten fingers ready to push keyboard button,
repeated the process of writing a novel from scratch…one word, one sentence,
one paragraph, and so on…until the manuscript completed within 4-5 months. Just
as before, we sent the manuscript to the publisher. 1…2…3…4 months passed
, thepostman finally came to my home, carrying a letter from the publisher.
DAG DIG DUG…it felt like déjà vu, is this letter of acceptance or rejection,
heart beating irregularly, but this feeling I’ve ever felt a few years ago. Out
of curiosity, I opened the letter…brewek
(the sound of torn paper), a big writing seen in a piece of paper in the
letter, “Sorry, we can not accept your manuscript.” Beuh, not yet…the fight was not over yet.
Several times sending the manuscript to different publishers, the results remain nil. The time running constantly no matter what happens…but it seemed my life stuck in one spot without being able to move anywhere…
“Don, we’ve been struggling for more than 7 years, our face also getting older, soon the apocalypse will come anyway, but we haven’t succeeded?”
“Apocalypse is God’s business, not our business…if it’s not our business, why thinking about it?!?”
“It’s not the matter of apocalypse! But why do we always fail?!? While people who made meaningless video on YouTube suddenly became famous?!?”
“Sam…listen to
me, listen to me! 98.4% of youngsters like us fear of failure and a quitter…while
we’ve been struggling so far, many times we fell, many times we failed…but we always
get up…we are part of the 1.6%”
“Where do you
get a 98.4%?!?”
“Search on google! You know what? God gave His people ordeal based on the ability of the people…and God knows we have the ability to pass all these ordeals! Sam, I tell you what…”
“What?”
“We’re…chosen.”
“How do you know we’re chosen?!?”
“Search on google!”
Yes, it was
towards the end of 2012, the issue of apocalypse that had been coming out since
a few years ago getting close to the day, I was in the kitchen cooking pancakes.
Made some and stacked the pancakes on a plate, then, I idly spreading chocolate
butter between two pancakes held together aka ‘2 Become 1’ just like a Spice
Girls’ song, you know Spice Girls? Hmm…dorayaki?!?
A ha! That’s it!
Never getting bored of Sunday gathering…
“Donuts? Already exists…Coffee ? Already exists…Bread? Already exists…how about Wagashi?”
“Wagashi?!? What
is that?!?”
Since the article shouldn’t put advertising or sales page here, I wouldn’t tell about this Wagashi…but if you force me, ok then check this video out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqp_I6FOE5Y
Gathering location which normally was in the living room, moved temporarily into the kitchen. There I had prepared a special dish…
“Mochi?”
“Yes, mochi…”
“How does it taste?”
“It tastes like hell…”
“Tastes like hell???” Sam with gusto put all round chewy mochi into his mouth, he soon shouted loudly, “what the HELL!!! It’s so spicy!”
Like what I said…the
hell-flavored mochi…
Process of trial-n-error creating wagashi, for months, plus limited time and money…but in the end we got the best recipe. Sold it to some friends and relatives, eh, their response was positive! (Initially we thought that they would end up at the hospital) But we didn’t want just to sell, we want business! We made a business proposal to request funds to investors, and then…
“Pandoraba?!?
Wagashi?!? If it’s about movies or music, I still want to talk to you, but when
it comes to business…pshaw, a big no!”
That was the response of a (and the only one!) prospective investor after our presentation, which yes you know what the result of this presentation was. Still lucky we got one chance of presentation, it was uncountable how many sheets of neatly beautifully bound proposal ended up in the trash without ever we had a chance to explain about Pandoraba (my brand).
“Ah, why we put hope on people who have the money,” I said as I slammed hard the print-out of our business proposal onto the table, “let’s just put hope on ourselves.”
Like the proverb I’ve ever read…to put hope on others opens the door of disappointment, to put hope on you opens the door of self-improvement.
Chapter VII: The Secret of Failure
With own small amount of money, we dared to run business. Finally in mid-2013, Pandoraba: The Kingdom of Wagashi officially formed a new business…although still small one. Yes, this is not the end of our journey, but the beginning of our new journey.
OK, we’ve finally reached the end of the story…
Back to the title
of this article…the secret of failure. You’ll often see in books or in
seminars, how to be success? What is the secret to success? Success story of someone…beuh,
it’s too mainstream, right! Now you know what the secret of failure? What is
the big secret behind the failure? How is the story of the famous people’s failure?
Over 9 years of experience, I share with you the big secrets hidden behind the failure…
Secret # 1
Fail
= Learning
BLEDUG!!!
This was Thomas Alva Edison’s 1500th-experiment explosion…
“Argh! We fail
again, sir!” Complaint from
“We fail not!”
Yes, Thomas Alva Edison…my idol who had very positive mindset and mental attitude. Failed 2000 times before finding light bulb, but for him it was not failing, but learning!
Fortunately we
live in the 21st century, many tools already discovered, many
schools exist, tutorials sprawl on YouTube…what if we lived 1000 to 2000 years
ago, ancient people didn’t know the word ‘fail’, they learn! Cooked, failed,
cooked again, failed again, cooked again, finally 1 food recipe found. Wright
Brothers had a dream to fly…made a plane, fell, made again, fell again, uncountable
how many times the experiment failed, finally thanks to the “failure” of them,
now we know airplane.
That’s the first big secret…if you fail in any case, don’t complain, “ah, damn! I fail!”, But be grateful, “yeah, I got the opportunity to learn!”
Secret # 2
The
more you fail the more successful you’re gone be
I’m not a mathematician (the best math scores of mine was only 65!), but I’ve got a success formula:
----------------
Success
= Fail + 1
----------------
Simple, isn’t it?
If you fail 10 times, plus 1 times more effort, then your success is worth 11, and so on.
Means that if you want greater success value, add the value to your failure as well. Believe it?
Experiments
failed 2000 times, ended up as the greatest inventor in history…Thomas Alva
Edison,
Failed in
politics for over 30 years, ended up becoming the most influential president in
the history of the 
Rejected many
times by recording studios, ended up as the most influential musician of all
time…The Beatles,
Rejected 1500
times by casting director, ended up as one of the legends of 
They’ve proved it…you?
Secret # 3
Fail
= the Just of God
Sometimes if we fail, we often blame God, don’t we? Admit it! I give an illustration, there was a small skinny guy. Well, he had to lift the weight of 200 pounds, could he lift it? No, he couldn’t! Well, there was another big muscular guy, he then had to lift the weight of 200 pounds, could he lift it? Yes, he can!
Well, just the same as our life, God actually gives equal weight to the people, but we often think the weight/our problem is too heavy, why? Not because of the heavy weight, but we are not strong enough to lift the weight! The one who does weightlifting is often more powerful than the guy who never does weightlifting. Means God is fair, right?
One who fails
(and then get up) is the big muscular guy, on the other side the one who’s
afraid to fail, once failed immediately giving up, is the small skinny guy.
According to you, who will succeed in the future? The big muscular guy for sure!
Fair, isn’t it?
Secret # 4
Pseudo
Failure vs. Real Failure
Most people know success or failure just one…no, no! Both success and failure has 2 species, pseudo success/failure and real success/failure…what’s the difference?
Success is when you
get much better than before. Means, if for example there are people suddenly
successful, rich, and famous, either from YouTube or by winning the lottery. Doesn’t
take long, his/her name disappears in the dust bath. It is an example of pseudo
success! Success, wealth, fame aren’t accompanied by the improvement of mindset,
mental attitude, character, and even skill! Doesn’t take long time, they
immediately fall without leaving a trace. In the end, they just get real
failure.
Compared to Jim
Carrey, he initially just a poor guy who wanted to be an actor. Casting directors
had rejected him for hundreds of times, but each time rejected, he was getting
stronger mentally, until finally he got good acting skill…that was pseudo failure!
People think he failed, but actually not! Why? Because every time he failed, he
got so much better than before, right? In the end, he got his real success.
Secret # 5
Fail
= Mental Education
“Experience is the best teacher.” Hmm…a classic proverb, but we just half agree, more precisely, “experience is second best teacher…the first one is failure.” Yes, based on our failure experience, we really felt many failures gave us lessons. We could be more mature, wiser, more patient, more positive thinking and positive attitude.
You study in any major, there will be no lesson of wisdom, maturity, positive thinking. All obtained from a teacher called ‘the failure’! Take it easy anyway, he’s not a killer, if one day you meet it, do not hesitate to face him.
You may only
know Edison, 
inventor of a famous Japanese automotive company once said, “people only know my success story which is only 1 %, whereas 99% of my story is a failure!” From this experience, we finally realized that actually failure and success just the same! What is the difference? Attitude!Failure is actually not a bad thing…failure will be bad if you take it badly!
Ok, actually there are 2 more secrets…but I’ll tell you the rest two in the novel…
And how’s the ending?
Easy, check out the novel version…
For who ever failed to achieve dreams, or who are still in the middle of the journey…for who are desperate due to business crisis, or who are still thinking about making business…for who are down due to audition’s rejection, or who are still performing on a small stage…for who are breaking up with girlfriend/boyfriend, or whose love confession is rejected…for who are suffered due to poor economic conditions, or whose health in bad condition…for who are seriously studying for the test scores, or who are working hard for daily needs…I’m Donny Barnesi, and my friend, Dwi Sam…introducing, we are Krizpy Frenzy, your new friends…see you and have fun!!!
“If you fail, you only have 2 choices…to
become stronger than before, or to become weaker than before…”
Feel inspired? Then what if you follow Don at http://www.twitter.com/DonnyBarnesi ...but I think you better not follow me…it’s useless…
WARNING!!!
Don’t check out our videos!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiBSjJpOiHo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKN5pXj2SY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBUrLtu1zY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ShuVW_HOo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BW6SXtreMQ