Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
August 2018
- When This Executive Was Fired, He Took Charge
- Obeying The Speed Limit Has Never Been More Fun
- London Black Cabs Helped Uber Grow
- Bette Graham Created A Product To Fix Her Mistakes
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Had An Interesting Start
July 2018
- Fear This Instead Of Failure
- Re-Releasing Songs Created Success
- A CEO's Purposeful Mistake
- The Tardy Student And The Unsolvable Problem
- Fixing Potholes Through Graffiti
June 2018
- A Surprising Mistake In The Oxford English Dictionary
- US Army Embraces Mistakes
- Blocking A Hymn
- Eddie Shore Was Truly A Tough Guy
- [Video] Elon Musk Didn't "Pivot" He Failed
May 2018
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness Part 2
- Necessity Turned Accessory: Allen Iverson's Sleeve
- This Doctor Has Continued To Fail
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness
- MIT Accidentally Creates New Smelting Process
April 2018
- Johnny Cash Quit Singing Lessons
- Cruise Control Came Out of Frustration
- Time Spent Gaming Pays Off In The Navy
- Rock Around The Clock Was a Commercial Failure
- Sigmund Freud Should Have Been Discouraged
March 2018
Losing at Checkers
A great video came across our screen the other day. It’s a round of Turkish draughts, a variation on checkers, in which one player trounces another.
The rules of the game are pretty simple. You can move a piece forward or sideways one square. Or, you can jump in either of these directions. Like in traditional checkers, players can make a double jump.
When your piece advances to the back row, it becomes a king. Then, you can move in any of the four directions and as far as you like, making jumps.
Here’s the clip, which takes just over a minute to play (direct link):
As the video starts, the situation looks pretty dire for the player with the dark pieces. He’s losing men left and right. Each turn he seems to walk right into his opponent’s traps. There are regular double jumps. By the thirty second mark, the underdog is down to five pieces. Soon he only has one man left. You can hear the cackles of the audience as it looks like his turn is over.
Suddenly, though, that single marker becomes a king. The game turns in a heartbeat. In a single move, he starts jumping in every direction. The piece snakes around the board like a character in a video game. Every move is legal and planned, yet each seems impossibly brilliant. Then, with one final jump, the game is over. The player who appeared be losing has won.
Turkish draughts isn’t the only game where failure is the secret to success. In truth, every game has these elements. A losing strategy is often the only way to win.
Learn more in the book!
