Say what?!

Newton's 3rd law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction* so I am postulating that learning how to fail is as important as learning how to succeed.

I was brought up to believe that failure was not an option and yet failing in life is as inevitable as death and taxes. Babies fall down countless times while they are learning how to walk and yet they just reach out for the nearest item that can support them, haul themselves up and try again. They don't know about failure, they just get on with it.

Apparently, I could read at a very early age (my mother says 2) and was a voracious reader as a child. I read Alex Haley's Roots when I was 7. I was in the top 10 in the country for the nationwide end of primary school exams, scoring 376 out of a possible 400. That got me into a prestigious high school (it was at the time) and I sat and passed 8 O levels, gaining 3 distinctions in Maths, English and French, and credits in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography and History - I was disappointed that my love of history was not reflected in the marks I attained. A book I read when I was 16 made me want to pursue a career in computing so I opted to do A levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Despite disasters in my A level Chemistry and Physics practicals, I gained the grades required to do a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Enineering. What I really wanted to do was degree in Computer Engineering, but that wasn't an option at the time I went to university so I opted for what I considered to be the closest thing - I slept walked my way to a 2:2. I flunked out of my MSc in Computer Science, purely because I didn't have the patience to master the programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, but eventually got an MSc in Information Security along with various vendor and industry certifications.

My mother sacrificed a lot to ensure I got a good education so I made sure that I produced the goods when it mattered. She would equate working hard at school to succeeding in life - what a load of bollocks that turned out to be.

* ok, the actual law mentions force