Why You Need to Fail Fast

I'm staring at my keyboard right now. I need a failure story. I need a story about failure. I need a failure story.

In writing, there's something I learned from Anne Lemott in Bird by Bird called "the really shitty first draft." Basically, you have to get your ideas down on paper (hence the opening line). My time behind the keyboard became exponentially more proficient since I’ve grasped this concept.

Instead of worrying that I didn't have the right words, I just let my ideas flow out.  It’s ok if it’s not perfect. In fact, I expect some absolute garbage to pour out of me.  The faster I get the words all down, the sooner I can get to work on refining them into something I’m ok with publishing.

This is true in writing but the lessons in failure apply from everything from business to more personal pursuits. Let’s explore some of the reasons why you should fail FAST.

Failure Creates Motivation

I just took a trip down memory lane to when my youngest learned to walk. I have a series of photos on my phone from when he used his big sister as a human walker. Imagine what his 12 month old mind is thinking.

"This is how she does it. I've been pulling myself up on the sofa for a month afraid to take a step, but I'm getting the hang of it now."

Moments later, sis is on to the next thing and he's back on all fours but even more motivated.

Even though babies fall on their butts, they don't give up. They learn!

Failure’s Cousin Innovation

It was my personal challenge to stop yelling at the kids for 30 days at the beginning of last month. We started off well, but then we hit Back to School week. It was a long day yesterday. Every year I get anxiety for my kids before they start school, so we all went into the day nervous.

We rushed to dance class after school, where Jayden didn't finish until 8pm. In the meantime, I had run to Costco and Whole Foods and picked her up with a car full of groceries. I lost it ten minutes into our drive home when she realized she had left her phone at the studio.  The challenge makes me start back at day zero if I fail to not yell.

Part of this challenge is if you do yell, you have to identify your triggers and think through how you could have done better next time. This is called innovation.

The faster you fail, the faster you innovate!

What I’ve failed to do this week is allow enough time to write a thorough post about failure.  That’s ok, because I will put it back into the cue. If you want to read, more of my thoughts on failure now, check this out.