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
Productivity Through Self Denial?
A venture capitalist is supposed to love new technology, right? But one VC has shunned one of the more common modern conveniences: email access on his mobile phone.
I did this mostly out of curiousity around two questions; could I actually do it given how addicted to checking my email I was and what consequences would it have in my daily life? The first is easily answered, it’s been six months and I still don’t have easy access to email on my phone. The adjustment process was surprisingly difficult though. During the first few days I was somewhat shocked by how anxious it made me not being able to constantly check my email. I actually became irritable and frustrated. I became aware of just how habitual it had become to open up the Mail app every spare second I had. This feeling passed and was gradually replaced by a feeling of liberation.
Photo © Flickr User Anthony Albright
What’s happened to Taggar as a result of this experiment? Over the long term, he reports some interesting conclusions:
The consequences have been interesting and vary from obvious to non obvious. Mostly obviously, I’ve become much slower at replying email.
This might seem like a second failure on top of his first round of self-denial. Now that the entrepreneur won’t reply to messages on his phone, he’s presumably less responsive overall.
But Taggar also notes a curious, unexpected advantage:
The least obvious consequence has been the lengthening of my concentration span, even when I’m at my desk with easy access to my email.
Failure is the secret to success. Sometimes it makes sense to do the opposite of what society says we’re supposed to do. Maybe the best way to be an effective, high-tech venture capitalist is to go lo-tech some of the time.
