Seek to Misconstrue   + a

Failure: The Blog  

[More archives...]

The Power of Failing

Patrick Gray at TechRepublic is a big fan of failure. A new essay reminds readers that “a failure-free climate is an innovation-free zone.”

The article, called simply The power of failing, includes several gems:

The worst corporate cultures, and not coincidentally those that punish failure the most severely, are plagued by inaction. You may have worked in a company where you were told to “not stick your neck out” or encouraged to “go along to get along.” The most successful managers in this type of organization rigorously maintained and defended the status quo. Except for a forced monopoly, various government entities being the only examples that exist, maintaining the status quo takes you out of the race while competitors pass you by.

Gray also writes about the benefits of giving yourself permission to make mistakes:

I would suggest you consciously try to fail once per quarter in the coming year. It may sound silly, but giving yourself permission to fail in a work or personal setting once every few months can be extremely powerful. With permission to fail, you might attempt to solve that complex technical problem and, even if unsuccessful, learn something that can be applied to 50 similar problems. Perhaps you’ll take that dream vacation, despite the worries about getting the time off, getting the right dinner reservation, or going at the wrong time of year.

Failure is the secret to success. Errors and wrongdoings lead us to understand the right way and the best path. If we’re afraid to fail, then we won’t ever succeed. We won’t ever innovate or develop new ideas because the threat of failure is too great.

Don’t fear failure. Learn more in Failure: The Secret to Success today!

Thanks to reader Tod Jeffcoat for this story.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.