Can You Survive Failure?

In Tim Hartford’s book, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure, he expresses a key idea:

“First, seek out new ideas and try new things; second, when trying something new, do it on a scale where failure is survivable; third, seek out feedback and learn from your mistakes as you go along.”

Why? Because our world is getting more complex and more layered. Every single thing we do and every decision we make is affected by millions of other variables and we can only understand about 0.1% of them. No matter how much we plan or do our research, there’s no guarantee that success is inevitable. Failure can, and will, always happen.

That’s why he argues that in the world we live in now, it’s not about effective planning. It’s about trial and error. Those who can afford to fail more times will succeed in the long run.

To be able to fail more times, you’ve got to be able to survive each failure. Instead of dumping all your life savings into your new businesses right away, invest a small portion. Sure, it’ll still suck if your business fails but it won’t be the end of the world.

If you want to quit your job and travel the world, start by taking a month off and seeing what it’s like. Maybe you won’t like it or maybe you will, but either way you’ll always have the option of going back.

“If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing wrong. Get on with it and see if it works.”

Ken Iverson, Nucor Steel, CEO

So whatever you’re setting out to achieve, do it on a scale where failure is survivable.

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