7 min read

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Jun 22, 2025

On the journey of life, we face thousands of ups and downs. Many events are born. The events are sometimes ordinary, sometimes extraordinary, sometimes unusual and sometimes strange. Which sometimes snatches a lot from us, sometimes also gives us a lot. Before succeeding, we often face failure many times. We sometimes laugh and sometimes cry in the midst of these countless stories.

The traces of all these remain in our minds for a few days, months or years. Then we forget them. But what remains is ‘Experience’. These experiences are our companions till death. Whether it’s big or small, it never goes to vain. Every experience matters. Through my own journey and research, I’ll show how even the tiniest experience can leave a lasting impact on our lives.

From childhood, we are taught ‘Life is a race’. We need to dream and chase for something big. While this is largely true, it distracts us from the real point. This myth should be debunked. Because dreaming about what we would become someday, we ignore today. We totally ignore the value of everyday hustles, struggles and don’t take lessons from them. Yeah, we should be focused on our big goal, but not by forgetting the little moments that could be very productive in our growth.

The society teaches us to celebrate Job promotions, graduations or any viral accomplishments as signs of a beautiful life. We are moving away from the idea that quiet, powerful moments can also generate pleasures that truly shape our character and purpose. Silence is not a symbol of weakness; it is a symbol of foresight. Yes, comfort and luxurious environments are part of happiness, but it is foolish to focus all your attention on them.

There is a famous Bengali poem by Nobel Prize-winning poet ‘Rabindranath Tagore.’-

For many days, across many miles, At great expense, I traveled through many lands, To see mountains, To see the vast sea. Yet I failed to see, with eyes wide open, Just two steps outside my own home A dewdrop glistening Upon a stalk of rice. — This contains a huge lesson to learn. The greatness of simplicity & small beauty of life.

The Almighty says to explore His creation to understand His greatness. So those lines are not to discourage travelers. Those are for us, not to overlook the real, aesthetic, small beauties of our circumstances. Beauty can be implied in the soft glow of the morning sun, the comforting aroma of a familiar meal, the shared smile with a stranger, or the gentle breeze that brushes past us or on a mouthful evening chat. These tiny moments may seem fleeting or insignificant, but they hold the power to nourish our hearts, ground us in the present, and remind us that joy doesn’t always come in big packages.

When we’re giving our child expensive video games, tablets, gaming PC etc. It will give them joy, but the artificial one, not much real joy. It’ll also become an obstacle to their progress. But if we take them to visit outside, teach them to love animals, to help the poor, the elderly and others who need help, teach about the realities of the world, it will be the game-changing moments. These experiences can greatly boost your child’s brain productivity. Those will help them discover the lasting joy. And the main thing is, these examples are the easiest, cheapest and effective ones. They rely simply on tiny moments.

We often consider job, business failures, non-lasting relationships, awkward moments in social gatherings, failed projects and other bitter experiences as wasted time & experience. Which is a common misconception. The reality is that job failure teaches us which kind of work suits us. What should we do, what do we want.

Business and project failures expose our weaknesses. It explains us where we need to improve for the deal. Bad relationship brings the right person into our lives. The awkward moments are gems. It enormously helps our growing personality. Though it’s uncomfortable, it helps us grow empathy, resilience, and social strength. They quietly shape our inner character.

We shouldn’t fear the failures. Because ‘Failure is the pillar of success.’ Failure is our ultimate teacher.

3 years ago, I had to work as a cleaner for a couple of months in UAE. I had to face the struggles, insults and other adversities a cleaner usually gets. It was a bachelor’s camp, not a commercial place. There was no timetable for work. Even in a sound sleep, there was a signal of work.

The place was like a hell for me then. However, after returning from there, I gained a significant source of life lessons. I learned that every single second is valuable. Everyone from cleaning sector earned my respect a lot. I learned to do my own stuff myself and to get rid of laziness. 2 months of experience is a very insignificant amount of time compared to a 26-year life. But those 2 months changed me completely. I learned that even the tiniest experience wouldn’t go to waste in life.

The ‘Butterfly Effect’ is a concept from chaos theory that says, ‘An event or action which seems very small and insignificant, can lead to unexpected, huge changes in the future. Let’s explore some remarkable examples from some famous names.

🌟 J.K. Rowling — ‘Harry Potter’ is one of the most beloved stories in the world, also one of the highest-earning movie series. J.K. Rowling started thinking about writing this on a delayed train journey! How unimaginable!! It could have been a frustrating delay, but she turned it into a treasure.

🌟 Steve Jobs — The man whose vision helped ‘Apple’ transform into one of the most influential companies in the world. Once he was dropped out of college. Then he randomly took a calligraphy class that seemed useless. Later, it inspired him to create a beautiful typography that made Apple famous worldwide. He could have easily gotten depressed. But he fought back and made history.

🌟 Oprah Winfrey — The first Black woman billionaire was once told she was unfit for a television job. This painful experience led her to invent the highest-rated talk show in television history, named ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. Success on that job may not bring the spark in her to do something big. But it’s again a small & bitter experience, which made her a cult-figure.

🌟 Walt Disney — The creator of ‘Mickey Mouse’ once got a newspaper rejection showing the cause of ‘Lack of imagination’! This criticism didn’t stop him; it was a key to his glory. Walter Elias Disney, once an ordinary man and now ‘The Walt Disney Company’ is a whole empire. The magical thing is, its base is none other than the sum of small moments.

🌟 Alexander Fleming — ‘Penicillin’ was the first true antibiotic ever discovered. It came from a moldy Petri dish by Alexander Fleming. He noticed that mold killing bacteria in the dish he forgot to clean. In a matter of seconds, he decided to investigate it instead of discarding it. Those seconds were revolutionary, that changed the fate of human health forever. We got life-saving antibiotics from that stunning event.

We can have millions of examples like these. Those stories prove the title and subtitle of this article. Whether it’s a delayed train, forgotten dish or a job failure, life finds its way to a turning point. All we need to do is take inspiration from those stories and stay focused.

It’s good to be an ordinary human to find gold in experiences; we don’t need to be famous for that. Firstly and mostly, we need to shift our mindset. Sudden changes aren’t so easy to reflect in real life. We need to be determined.

We can write down at the end of each week what we learned from the failures, mistakes and awkward moments. When something goes wrong, we should ask ourselves:

· What did it teach me?

· What should I do next?

· Where should I progress?

· Which things should I follow; which should I avoid?

Take a deep look at our own lives, search for the moments that had a huge impact on our lives. As Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.”

We need to slow down sometimes to explore the immensity of tiny moments. We should feel the nature and other real things. Take 30 minutes of loneliness every day to take stock of your life. We may set the ‘Small acts- Lasting waves- Endless stories’ philosophy in our mind.

As in a Bengali poem by ‘Provat Chandra Ray’ says, “Small grains of sand and drop by drop of water built the continent and the deep sea.”- This holds a big lesson for us that all massive things need their little pieces to grow. Every significant thing starts from insignificance. This concept also reflects our lives. Whether it’s pleasant or painful, big or small, luxurious or common, expensive or cheap, comfortable or intolerable, beautiful or ugly, we need every piece of the puzzle to solve the puzzle of our life.

In the crowd of various events, the only remaining things are experience and inspiring moments. We must cherish them. So next time you feel regret about assuming a day and time as pointless and a waste, try to remember: ‘Every moment counts. No experience is useless. Life’s classroom leaves no lessons wasted.’ Your small moments today are building the masterpiece you’ll recognize tomorrow.