Fail Faster. I first encountered this line of thinking when I was working for a non-profit association. Our CEO introduced it to the staff and wanted us to approach all our projects with this concept in mind. At the time, my perfectionist self balked at the idea. Now, however, it is something that both Damien and I embrace fully. I even have the following quote on my desktop to remind me: “If you don’t have room for failure, you don’t have room for growth.” (I cannot recall who said this to provide appropriate attribution; my apologies).
Embrace Mistakes
“Embracing mistakes leads to accelerated learning.” - Greg McKeown, Effortless. This short quote encompasses so much of what I have come to believe and practice over the past decade or so. Everything, good or bad, failure or success, leads me to a lesson from which I can learn.
The Bag of Beads Exercise
McKeown says embracing the rubbish is “a far easier path for learning.” I couldn’t agree more. One of the examples he provides is called the Bag of Beads exercise in which you imagine you have a bag filled with 1,000 beads. Each time you make a mistake (in his example it was learning a new language), you take out a bead. When the bag is empty, you have progressed to Level 1 Mastery of that skill. I love this concept and may even find a way to make it a literal bag (or jar) to track progress on a new skill.
The Wisdom of Thomas Edison
I’ll leave you with a final quote from Thomas Edison that has stuck with me: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Ponder This
- What current project or skill could benefit from the "fail faster" mindset?
- How can you create your own version of the Bag of Beads exercise to track your progress and embrace mistakes?
- What lessons have you learned from recent failures that have accelerated your growth?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!
Books
- Effortless - Greg McKeown
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