Would you rather have tried and failed or not tried at all for fear of failing?
My friend Heidi sent me a suggestion for a blog post. She said that she often tried to fail – even daily or at least several times a week. She kept a list on her phone about what she did and what she learnt from it. She explained it was about showing up and putting herself out there, inadequacies and all. (1)
This is similar to rejection therapy (2) where you set out to get rejected in order to reduce the stigma attached to failure. When you are ok with getting a “no”, you bounce back quickly and can move on without dwelling or it holding you back.
I recently watched a short video on the BBC showing a museum that embraces failure (3). In order to be considered part of the museum, there were 3 criteria, 1 – it had to be an innovation, 2 – it had to be a failure where a failure was defined as a deviation from expected results and 3 – the creator of the museum had to find it interesting. He said that people often felt liberated and felt it was ok to fail, especially after seeing big brand names that have “failed” products.
If we can learn from the “failure”, then is it still a failure? Personally, I would rather have tried and failed than have not tried at all? Easier said than done sometimes. How about you?
Footnotes
1) Thanks Heidi and no, you can’t add this to your failure list as it became a blog topic. 😉
2) Rejection therapy
3) Museum that embraces failure