Delay, not defeat
I was at a project management seminar recently, and the talk turned (as always) to projects that don't work as planned. I asked, "How many people admit to having managed a failed project?" Unsurprisingly, every one began to argue the definition to put the most positive spin on the result, and to deny failure.
Our society doesn't value setbacks, which is what happens when we fail. We talk about it -- who hasn't heard about Edison's 10,000 ways not to invent the lightbulb? -- but we don't want to admit to failing. We also don't want to be associated with anything that doesn't work; one study that I saw that showed that almost 2/3 projects in IT did not succeed, but of all the many thousands of managers none will admit to having led any of them.
Add to that the discussion on what constitutes success. According to some people, success means having a big house, a luxury car, and a beautiful spouse. For others, it's having stable income and a home. For yet others, it means being able to travel at will. Each is valid in its own way, and each would mean failure to someone who doesn't accept it.
J.M. Barrie said, "We are all failures... at least the best of us are." Admitting that we have failed is necessary to being able to move past and to improve. If we never fail, we definitely won't know how to deal with setbacks or to recover from difficulties. It is the only thing that keeps us motivated. And we really fail when we don't try.
So admit to yourself and others that you have failed. But don't stay there -- failure is only a delay, not defeat. And success is greatly appreciated when we have dealt with failures.
Our society doesn't value setbacks, which is what happens when we fail. We talk about it -- who hasn't heard about Edison's 10,000 ways not to invent the lightbulb? -- but we don't want to admit to failing. We also don't want to be associated with anything that doesn't work; one study that I saw that showed that almost 2/3 projects in IT did not succeed, but of all the many thousands of managers none will admit to having led any of them.
Add to that the discussion on what constitutes success. According to some people, success means having a big house, a luxury car, and a beautiful spouse. For others, it's having stable income and a home. For yet others, it means being able to travel at will. Each is valid in its own way, and each would mean failure to someone who doesn't accept it.
J.M. Barrie said, "We are all failures... at least the best of us are." Admitting that we have failed is necessary to being able to move past and to improve. If we never fail, we definitely won't know how to deal with setbacks or to recover from difficulties. It is the only thing that keeps us motivated. And we really fail when we don't try.
So admit to yourself and others that you have failed. But don't stay there -- failure is only a delay, not defeat. And success is greatly appreciated when we have dealt with failures.
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