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Fail fast, fail often –
By Lee Ann | October 27, 2008
And success cannot elude you.- Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive.
Thank you Carrie for reminding me that I have failed at so many things and couldn’t be happier about that. It means that I’m that much closer to my success. But, also, it reminded me that I really don’t like using the word failure. Because I don’t think I failed at any job or business or relationship. I just think that I didn’t achieve the results I had thought I was going to achieve.
A short story to make my point. The Wright brothers wanted to conquer the sky – to give wings to man so that he could forever soar with the birds. They did achieve gliding, but real flight – that they failed at. But, perhaps they should be remembered as two of the most successful failures in history.
What!! How dare I make that claim? Well, because through research I have come to find out that a man by the name of Glenn Curtiss was really the father of modern day airplanes. Mr. Curtiss, along with a mastermind group that included a Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, designed a plane he called the June bug that not only took off under its own power, but stayed aloft and actually flew.
I think more importantly than that, Glenn Curtiss’ planes were also as safe as aircraft could be in those days, compared to planes made with the Wright Brothers design. Planes made by the Wright Brothers had a nasty tendency to crash and kill their pilots due in part to an error in the design of the wings. This made the Wright Brothers a bit cranky and they wound (well, the surviving Wright brother) wound up suing Mr. Curtiss for stealing their patented plane design until World War 1 came along and the government stepped in and told both parties to kiss and make up because they needed planes to use in battles.
In closing, although Wilbur and Orville failed to make safe planes – they made a name for themselves that history will long remember.
So, I embrace failure – or should I say – I embrace not achieving my desired outcome – And you should too!
Topics: beliefs | 2 Comments »
October 31st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Hi Lee Ann,
I found you from your comment on Angie’s Six Figure Moms Club blog. I noticed your quote by David Neagle and immediate knew I had to come on over and check you out! I have been following David’s work for a few months, yet have not attended a live workshop. I would love to learn more about your experience. From the looks of your blog, we have much in common in terms of how we look at life. I was also delighted to see your mention of Carie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive. I recently saw a presentation of hers at JV Alert Live and her energy and commitment really knocked my socks off!
Amy
On twitter at @LotusAmy
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 am
Hi Amy,
I’d be happy to tell you of my experience at David’s workshop. Just dm me on Twitter and we’ll get email addy’s.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I appreciate the visit and the comments.
Lee Ann