Failure is not an option it is a necassity

manager
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Failure is not an option; it’s a necessity. Here are some thoughts on failures.

General

COEs

Failures are a great opportunity to learn. Use COEs

Good sayings

  • Success is falling down 7 times and getting up 8
  • Failure isn’t an option; it’s a requirement
  • The default, doing nothing, is usually a failure
  • Fear is the mind killer
  • Fear of failure is brought to you by the resistance
  • Fear is not the enemy. Paralysis is the enemy.

Smart people talking about fear of failure

James Webb Telescope guy

Elon on launching man to space

Elon on engineering responsibility

My $500M Mars rover mistake

Great story on the empathy that failure can bring.

My $500M Mars rover mistake

DHH on being happy making mistakes - and how you should be sad if you don’t.

Twitter Link

Seth Godin on Fear

Alas, this is the wrong question.

The only way to get rid of the fear is to stop doing things that might not work, to stop putting yourself out there, to stop doing work that matters.

No, the right question is, “How do I dance with the fear?”

Fear is not the enemy. Paralysis is the enemy.

Read his other posts as well

Out of our control, vs in our control failures

Good story from Ethan Evans, note this is about the anxiety definition around shifting from controlling to maximizing influence

LinkedIn recently made some unknown changes to their algorithm. I have noticed a drop of 70% to 80% in the reach of our posts. Since my goal is to share my knowledge with more people, that means my goal just took an 80% hit.

In general, setbacks in performance are either due to:

A) Something we did

Or

B) Something external, outside our direct control

Mistakes, poor decisions, and missed deadlines are examples of A. They are in our control.

Things like Covid, high interest rates, and reorganizations at work are examples of B, outside our control.

LinkedIn’s change is also case B, outside my control.

When a setback comes from something in your control, you know clearly what you did wrong and what you need to change to restore your performance and progress. Fixing your own issues may take time and be difficult, but you know what to do.

When the setback is due to something outside your control, you do not know how to fix the issue.

So, how can we react when our performance is shattered and we do not know why?

Here is my recipe:

  1. Allow yourself a fixed amount of time to grieve (and complain if you wish).

Emotions are real, and before you can move on you will need to sit with those emotions. But, do not get stuck in them. Curse your bad luck, pout for a minute, etc. Then, move to the next step.

  1. Refocus on your core value. Whatever happened, go back to how you define high performance to ensure it is still relevant.

I admit, I slipped into defining my own performance by how many people viewed my LinkedIn posts. This was a mistake. My mission is to help others, so getting views is a proxy, not a result. And, using LinkedIn is just a method for the mission, not the mission itself.

  1. Adapt your core value if you must (if its value has decreased).

In my case, the value of what I offer hasn’t changed; the external delivery system has.

  1. Once you adapt and/or increase your value, find new ways to deliver it if necessary.

Luckily, I have other options for reaching people: my Substack newsletter, YouTube, etc. Since Substack has been such a good partner recently, I will start there. I have also refocused how I write on LinkedIn to make every post focused on my goal.

  1. Test, measure, adapt, repeat!

Really, this step is everything. Once you get past the grief, jump into action in this loop. Nothing can stop you if you keep working to refine, deliver, and showcase your core value.

FAQ

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