A Wandering Soul
Premkumar Masilamani
26 Oct 2026
Succeeded.
That was the only word I wanted to hear all the time. Everything else was wasted effort. That was my mantra for a long time.
Lately, I’ve realized this isn’t the only way to measure success. Those wasted efforts have changed me in ways that successful moments did not.
I plan. I work. I succeed.
Great feeling. I get more confidence and ability to take on even greater things.
I plan. I work. I fail.
Not so great a feeling. However when I fail, I add a few more steps:
I plan. I work. I fail. I question. I refine. I improve. I succeed.
These questioning, refining, and improving steps are the ones that make us look beyond the horizon, look at things differently and look at different things - which is essentially an evolution.
Contrary to the popular belief, the natural selection in Darwin’s evolution is not based on success. It’s based on the species ability to adapt to failures. Whichever species is resilient to those failures lives on.
Predators like the T. Rex were among the most successful species of evolution, at that time. They were so successful that they ruled as apex predators for millions of years. One mishap, and they were wiped out.
If the mishap happened on a small scale, or was locally confined to a specific region, those dinosaurs would have adapted. However successful they were as a species, they did not get a chance to evolve. The mishap was too big.
Any failures in our lives are like small-scale mishaps. They give us chances to evolve into a better human.
What’s a large-scale mishap for you? - You’re dead.
As long as you’re alive, you’re being given chances to evolve.
Evolve or not is your choice, though.
Thank you for reading. If this article sparked a thought, raised a question, or inspired a different perspective, I'd love to hear from you.