My life as a failure
- Sun, October 29 2006
- Filed under: Personal
I was so inspired by Mark Rovner‘s encouraging response to my last post that I thought I’d admit more failure. I hate to fail, but through the cozy, comfortable viewpoint of hindsight, I can say that my failures are among the great moments in my life because they make me stretch.
My first public speaking experience was horrific—a stammering recitation of written notes. And I was supposed to be a moderator on a panel! Now I think I’m a good speaker, but only because I was driven to improve by a serious fear of repeating that humiliation.
When I wrote my book, I had to admit failure halfway through. I realized on page 140 that the book was only starting to work and threw out everything I’d written up to then. I finished the book, then went back and rewrote the first half. Though I nearly went mad over the process, the book and I were better for it.
My favorite jobs are those when I feel scared at the sheer immensity of the tasks before me about 49% of the time. I hate that discomfort, but it makes me creative, productive and excited by my work.
On NPR’s This I Believe, columnist Jon Carroll recently said:
Failure is how we learn. I have been told of an African phrase describing a good cook as “she who has broken many pots.” If you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen to have broken a lot of pots, probably you know a fair amount about cooking. I once had a late dinner with a group of chefs, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much credibility their failures gave them.
I have more scars than I can count.
Failure is a big part of marketing. Most campaigns fail. Most messages start a bit off target. Most appeals for dollars don’t rake in cash. That’s okay, as long as we look at them as broken pots and tweak our recipes. Admit the dish tasted bad and go find your missing ingredients. I’m certainly still on a quest for them myself.
Comments
Katya-
I was recently at an investors’ meeting for start-ups, and people were talking about the proposed “Use of Funds” for one particular organizations. They were arguing over exactly what the money should be used for—and whether the returns to X would be higher than the returns to Y. One guy got up and said, “Let’s cut all the bull and stop pretending. This money would be used to fund failure for the first eighteen months until they finally figure out what they are doing.”
Smart guy.
Dennis
www.globalgiving.com
www.denniswhittle.blogspot.com
I’ve written a lot about the value of failure and mistakes as it relates to training/teachable moments and using technology
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/02/mistakes_as_tea.html
I also came across a wonderful post over at the MacArthur Spotlight blog - with some references to failure vis a vis the process of creating a new field.
I love this quote:
“Great teachers, like gamers, know that you learn as much from failure as success. (That’s why it’s called “trial-and-error” not “trial-and-perfection.”)”
Smart guy indeed, Dennis.
Well done Katya - they say people fear public speaking more than death ... I can only think that if suicide wasn’t permanent, you would have done it just to challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone 
A lot of people say that failure is the secret to success, but it is a difficult lesson to live, as well as repeat