Fail Better

Best selling author, Seth Godin shares what we all know to be true, we all fail. So, how do we make the most of it? If you’re going to fail, you should fail in the best way possible, right? We can’t control what external events occur, but we can control our reactions to setbacks and failures. Seth offers six ways to help us fail better and with intention:

 

 

1. Whenever possible, take on specific projects.
2. Make detailed promises about what success looks like and when it will occur.
3. Engage others in your projects. If you fail, they should be involved and know that they will fail with you.
4. Be really clear about what the true risks are. Ignore the vivid, unlikely and ultimately non-fatal risks that take so much of our focus away.
5. Concentrate your energy and will on the elements of the project that you have influence on, ignore external events that you can’t avoid or change.
6. When you fail (and you will) be clear about it, call it by name and outline specifically what you learned so you won’t make the same mistake twice. People who blame others for failure will never be good at failing, because they’ve never done it.

 

 

 

[1] List from Seth’s original post on Seth’s Blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/04/how-to-fai.html