Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

s. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment. Most large organizations embrace the idea of invention, but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there. Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a ten percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But you’re still going to be wrong nine times out of ten.”</blockquote>Experiments, by definition, don’t always work out. Failures are inevitable. But there’s a big difference between a failed experiment and a failed investment.A failed experiment helps you grow. It helps you narrow down your potential paths and make a better experiment next time. It’s one step in the process of making smaller and smaller circles, eventually honing in on success.A failed experiment is still valuable. It only becomes a failed investment when you don’t use it to learn. It becomes a failed investment when it freezes you, limiting your ability to move forward.Before Abraham Lincoln was President, he failed in business — twice. In between, he lost his bid for the State Legislature. In 1838, he was defeated for the Speaker in the Illinois House of Representatives. Then he lost his bid for elector and in 1843 was defeated for congressional nomination.In 1846 he won his Congressional campaign, only to be defeated again in 1848, and subsequently lose a Senate race in 1855. In 1856, he was defeated for Vice President and three years later lost a tightly contested Senate match against Stephen Douglas.Oh yeah, and then in 1861, at the age of 52, he became President of the United States. Despite numerous setbacks and failures, Lincoln never gave up. And in many ways, you can see how the adversity and perseverance he gained through those early disappointments set him up to become one of America’s greatest presidents.Thomas Edison went through similar struggles on his way to invent a commercially-viable electric light bulb. After thousands of iterations and failed experiments, a reporter asked Edison whether he felt like a failure. He replied,“I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”Despite these failures, Edison would hold nearly 1100 patents at the time of his death, developing many inventions that are the basis of technologies we use today.Both Lincoln and Edison experimented throughout their lives, throwing themselves into new ventures and new attempts. While many of their early experiments didn’t work out, neither were they failures. In both cases, the setbacks helped them to refine their methods. Each experiment became an investment to their success. And because they kept moving forward — and kept experimenting — we remember that eventual success much more than the preceding failures. As Orson Welles put it,“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”Some amount of failure is inevitable.

Options

It will either come from experimenting and trying new things, as a necessary byproduct of pushing your boundaries. Or it will come from setting your sights too low and repeating the same failed strategies. Every one of us has this choice.<h2 id="fb1e">Be Willing to Fail Differently</h2>Through a combination of choice and chance, we create the lives we live and our contribution to this world. But while <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-make-your-own-luck-ae845c49969">chance is often outside our control</a>, our choices provide the foundation for who we are. The choices we make each day are all we can look back on when we consider whether we’ve made the most of our limited time and opportunities. <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/21/joan-didion-on-self-respect/">Joan Didion captured this well in defining character </a>as “the willingness to take responsibility for one’s own life.”<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Picasso-Brassa%C3%AF/dp/0226071499">As Picasso said </a>that “to know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing,” it’s through action that we take responsibility. No one wants to live a passive life. Few people look back on their lives and regret the times they acted with courage in order to try something new.Where have you been hesitating to try something new? What’s holding you back?Excellence is found through self-expression. We don’t fully live by drifting through life following the crowd. And we can’t make the most of our opportunities by clinging to the same tired habits, too afraid to stand out on our own. The solution is to experiment — try something new, something unique, something that forces you to abandon those comfortable excuses. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1503386317">As Nietzsche wrote</a>,<blockquote id="e6f8">“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!”</blockquote>What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? People tend to ask that question when they want to inspire you to find your passion in life. But it still keeps people grounded against the possibility of failure. It continues to remind us that failure is something to be avoided at all costs.Instead, let’s focus on what failures you’ll be proud to add to your resume this year? When you look at the risks you took this year and the times you fell short, what do you want to be on that list?Would you like to fail like everyone else? Or would you rather fail differently? And what experiments will help you turn that into a reality?If you’re failing differently, you’re trying new things. You’re experimenting. You’re pushing your boundaries and making real contributions. If you’re failing differently, you’re doing something you’ve never done before.I hope you choose to fail differently. It’s scary to lose the safety of the crowds. But often our proudest accomplishments come from doing those things that scare us the most.</article></body>

The Key to Success Is Failing Differently

Do More of What Scares You

People aren’t afraid of failure. They’re afraid of failing differently.

People fail all the time. Most of the time it’s not a surprise. Most of our failures come from doing the same thing over and over again. We don’t change things, yet somehow hope that the results will get better on their own.

Because people aren’t afraid of failing. As long as they’re failing in the same way as everyone else.

It’s safe. It’s common. If they’re failing in the same way as everyone else, then at least they have a good excuse.

Trying something new sets you apart. It seems riskier. If we fall short, we’re on our own. We don’t have those old excuses to fall back on any longer.

It’s much safer to just keep doing the same thing. That’s what everyone else does as well. Even if it’s not working, at least we’ll have company.

In general, we feel more responsible for our actions than we do for our inactions. If we’re going to fail, we’d prefer to fail through inaction. It’s passive. You may have failed, but at least you didn’t do anything. And since you didn’t do anything, you feel less responsible for the whole outcome.

Which may help our ego in the moment, but it doesn’t lead to a successful life. Few people attribute their success to following the pack, repeating the same failed strategies, and hoping it will all work out somehow.

If there’s one piece of advice that I think summarizes the path to success in life, it’s: If what you’re doing isn’t working, then change what you’re doing.

It sounds obvious. But if it’s so obvious, then why do so many people struggle to do it?

Life is an Experiment. But Only If You Make It One.

“All life is an experiment,” wrote Emerson. And yes, it is. But only if you treat it like one.

People tend to leave off the second half of that quote. Emerson actually wrote, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.”

Life, on its own, is not an experiment. It’s up to each of us to make it one.

It’s not a coincidence that Jeff Bezos attributes Amazon’s success to the amount of experiments they perform. He knows that new opportunities come from testing new areas. And that one big winner can make up for many disappointments. As he wrote in one of his annual letters to shareholders,

“One area where I think we are especially distinctive is failure. I believe we are the best place in the world to fail (we have plenty of practice!), and failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment. Most large organizations embrace the idea of invention, but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there. Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a ten percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But you’re still going to be wrong nine times out of ten.”

Experiments, by definition, don’t always work out. Failures are inevitable. But there’s a big difference between a failed experiment and a failed investment.

A failed experiment helps you grow. It helps you narrow down your potential paths and make a better experiment next time. It’s one step in the process of making smaller and smaller circles, eventually honing in on success.

A failed experiment is still valuable. It only becomes a failed investment when you don’t use it to learn. It becomes a failed investment when it freezes you, limiting your ability to move forward.

Before Abraham Lincoln was President, he failed in business — twice. In between, he lost his bid for the State Legislature. In 1838, he was defeated for the Speaker in the Illinois House of Representatives. Then he lost his bid for elector and in 1843 was defeated for congressional nomination.

In 1846 he won his Congressional campaign, only to be defeated again in 1848, and subsequently lose a Senate race in 1855. In 1856, he was defeated for Vice President and three years later lost a tightly contested Senate match against Stephen Douglas.

Oh yeah, and then in 1861, at the age of 52, he became President of the United States. Despite numerous setbacks and failures, Lincoln never gave up. And in many ways, you can see how the adversity and perseverance he gained through those early disappointments set him up to become one of America’s greatest presidents.

Thomas Edison went through similar struggles on his way to invent a commercially-viable electric light bulb. After thousands of iterations and failed experiments, a reporter asked Edison whether he felt like a failure. He replied,

“I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

Despite these failures, Edison would hold nearly 1100 patents at the time of his death, developing many inventions that are the basis of technologies we use today.

Both Lincoln and Edison experimented throughout their lives, throwing themselves into new ventures and new attempts. While many of their early experiments didn’t work out, neither were they failures. In both cases, the setbacks helped them to refine their methods. Each experiment became an investment to their success. And because they kept moving forward — and kept experimenting — we remember that eventual success much more than the preceding failures. As Orson Welles put it,

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

Some amount of failure is inevitable. It will either come from experimenting and trying new things, as a necessary byproduct of pushing your boundaries. Or it will come from setting your sights too low and repeating the same failed strategies. Every one of us has this choice.

Be Willing to Fail Differently

Through a combination of choice and chance, we create the lives we live and our contribution to this world. But while chance is often outside our control, our choices provide the foundation for who we are. The choices we make each day are all we can look back on when we consider whether we’ve made the most of our limited time and opportunities. Joan Didion captured this well in defining character as “the willingness to take responsibility for one’s own life.”

As Picasso said that “to know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing,” it’s through action that we take responsibility. No one wants to live a passive life. Few people look back on their lives and regret the times they acted with courage in order to try something new.

Where have you been hesitating to try something new? What’s holding you back?

Excellence is found through self-expression. We don’t fully live by drifting through life following the crowd. And we can’t make the most of our opportunities by clinging to the same tired habits, too afraid to stand out on our own. The solution is to experiment — try something new, something unique, something that forces you to abandon those comfortable excuses. As Nietzsche wrote,

“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!”

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? People tend to ask that question when they want to inspire you to find your passion in life. But it still keeps people grounded against the possibility of failure. It continues to remind us that failure is something to be avoided at all costs.

Instead, let’s focus on what failures you’ll be proud to add to your resume this year? When you look at the risks you took this year and the times you fell short, what do you want to be on that list?

Would you like to fail like everyone else? Or would you rather fail differently? And what experiments will help you turn that into a reality?

If you’re failing differently, you’re trying new things. You’re experimenting. You’re pushing your boundaries and making real contributions. If you’re failing differently, you’re doing something you’ve never done before.

I hope you choose to fail differently. It’s scary to lose the safety of the crowds. But often our proudest accomplishments come from doing those things that scare us the most.