Think of the last time you failed at something? If you are honest with yourself you probably made several small failures today. I am not talking about anything earth-shattering, but rather simple small ones such as making a wrong turn while driving, forgetting something as you walk out the door or underestimating the amount of time you need to get get to the airport early enough to make it through security lines and reach your gate on time. We all make mistakes; this makes us human.
Our culture tells us the story that the most successful people never make mistakes and that is why they have success. Think about how being “wrong” is portrayed in popular culture (the football coach who makes a play call that led to a loss or the leader of an organization who invested in the wrong product line that hurt the bottom line. In reality, they took risks that failed whereas if the outcome went the other way they would have looked like a genius.
Our culture also emphasizes that if you are an expert, that means people should listen to them and not question ideas or decisions because the experts have it figured out. This can be seen in the interactions between entry-level employees and their managers and even in the scientific community. However, this idea of flawlessness is flawed and hides the truth that successful people have failed and failed quickly to get where they are at today.
To “fail quickly” means that you should not be afraid to make mistakes and not to let fear prevent you from trying something new. This is how we as humans learn. Successful people don’t stand out because they go with the flow, they stand out because they take risks and fail quickly. When they do fail, they do not stubbornly continue with the same idea to cover up their failure, they course-correct and set a new path until they fail again. Successful people will often fail multiple times until they finally reach success. Think about today’s building standards, these standards evolved to where they are today because of past failures. Software evolves and becomes more efficient over time because there were design flaws in the architecture that became obvious as people used the software. By keeping your mind open and observant you can readily see “why” the failures happen. Always seek to understand the “why” and when you do you can quickly learn and set a new direction to avoid those same failures again.
The Scientific Method is a perfect example of the principle to “fail quickly”. Observe things, gather info, make a “best guess”, “test your guess” and then adjust your guess and retest. Today’s scientific achievements would not have reached the current level if humans just stopped at “make a best guess” because they didn’t want to come out with results that showed them wrong. One must set aside their EGO to maximize their ability to learn. If you worry about appearing “right”, you will have a hard time learning. “Fail quickly” so you can readjust and set your course to a more productive future.
What about you? What have you failed at recently and how did it make your life better?
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