Son… failure is wrong…

“Fail fast and fail often” — Phil Knight

Okay, I don’t have a son, and I don’t think failure is wrong.

Although, I think the current dialogue around failure could be reframed. Failure is not a good thing but it’s not a bad thing either. Approaching a task with the mentality that failing is a good thing can be dangerous. Failing is inevitable, but playing to lose is not the way to win.

Michael Hyatt talks about this in his book “Your Best Year Ever.” He says, when you have a plan B or C that you are content with, your subconscious prevents you from giving plan A your full attention.

I know this sucks, kinda like a relationship, the loss hurts worse if you are emotionally connected to the outcome. Yet, this is where the magic happens. Failing fast and often increases your emotional bounce back rate. The period of time between going balls to the wall on experiment A — failing, then proceeding to experiment B with the same emotional attachment.

Hint: Don’t treat relationships this way, people don’t respond as well as an enterprise in this regard.

It’s in our nature to feel like shit when we fail and for a good reason. When we didn’t catch that boar for our tribe back in the good old days we could cost the lives of several tribe members.