Redefining Failure

[Dan Goodwin]

What does failure mean to you, in your creative life?

Most of the time we see failure as something negative and terrible, something to be avoided at all costs. So much so that it often chokes our ability to create anything at all.

Here are some alternative thoughts on failure:

"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement." - C. S. Lewis

"There is no failure, only feedback." - Unknown

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simply really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you'll find success..." - Thomas J. Watson

"Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have." - Unknown

"Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach." - Roger Von Oech

What are your thoughts and definitions of failure? How do those hold you back from trying more, from creating more?

How can you reframe or redefine your definition of failing to help you be more creative?

[Nick]

For some reason this doesn't surprise me. Once a company passes critical mass, individuals don't exist. They become numbers for bean counters.

[Lin Neiswender]

Like IBM doesn't have enough money to finance their own facilities... good grief! Hope the court sticks it to 'em!

[WildCherry]

Worse still, to my mind, is the fact that countries like Ghana (W. Africa) are being used as dumping grounds for 1st world waste computers, cell phones etc and these leftovers are toxic...

[WildCherry]

I stand corrected, I mis-remembered what you said and then I couldn't find the thread to go back and re-read it!

I understand what you mean about the gap. I wouldn't dispute that...Still, at least I feel that some of the many many people who are doing their bit in the world for those with much less can get THEIR voices heard though the internet on behalf of those disenfranchized people then that's something...a start that might not have been made otherwise...plus I've read some interesting stuff about people inventing ways to create network systems in villages...I guess if before people got by with one tv per village and now they have one computer per village I still see that as a change with them having the possibility of transforming from passive receivers to those with (albeit a) small voice...

[Nick]

I agree with you Wildcherry. If ever there is a possibility of getting through to people, the internet will be the tool. The great problem though is to get people off their asses, the irony of which is that a great deal of internet people, the ones who know the intricacies the best, are stuck in front of the computer. It is a tool that is motivating, yet highly addictive.

[Dan Goodwin]

Funnily enough it's the wings on the poles that have caused most dissent! Though when they first went up they had bells along the wings, which apparently were a little loud in the wind and could be heard in the houses nearby at night. So the bells were removed.

I went to look at it in the flesh and the poles were much smaller than I expected, maybe 3 metres tall, and either side of the entrance to a children's play area, so they kind of fitted in there quite well I thought.

My Broadband is about £20a month, which is around $38 USD or 25 Euros.Its about the same cost as 4 packs of cigarettes or 8 pints of beer, or around 4 gallons of petrol.

[WildCherry]

I liked the bells, they reminded me of some eastern monastery...As one who lives in a town where the bells of two different churches chime every 15mins...LOUDLY...and all through the night...I have little sympathy!....Still, I don't really need to wear a watch at least!

[Nick]

I agree with you Wild Cherry. In Quebec city you are always within range of the bells of 3 or 4 church steeples. We had high school classes within 100ft of huge bells. Like anything, if you decide they bug you, they will bug you, otherwise you filter them out.

[Alfredo]

I think the definition of 'failure' is such a personal thing. I also feel that this definition is redefined as we evolve in our creative process and career. Once we may have thought, "Wow, if I sold ONE painting I'll feel like I am a real artist." Later, after you sold five at a showing this may change to, "I feel like a failure, I only sold five paintings this time and not the ten I imagined I'd sell." We may quickly forget when selling one might have felt like we were in heaven.

Based on my own experience, I try to see my past work and its success and lack thereof as what has made me the artist I am today, and what will make me the artist I will be next year, five years from now and beyond. I also remind myself I have gone further than many people ever allowed themselves to go, and I tried things regardless of fear and doubt. That alone deserves a pat on the back. For all of us here, that we are open to sharing our work, to discussing our creative ups and downs, to encourage each other to go forth creatively, deserves a pat on our backs because we dared.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Hear Hear! Daring to do it is indeed a giant step in the right direction, Al. And I share your attitude of what has gone before as shaping who I am now, creatively and in all areas of life. Everyone I have ever had a relationship with has helped me become who I am.

[Dan Goodwin]

Alfredo, you said: "I also remind myself I have gone further than many people ever allowed themselves to go"...

This rung huge bells for me! Something I need to work on more, allowing myself to go further and not stick to what's safe and comfortable and easy... Lots to think about...

[Alfredo]

I think this may be something we artists encounter a lot. I know I do. When I am working on a new album, it is easy to fall back on the old, comfortable limitations. My last album was good in that it forced me to push beyond that, because the album's concept was bigger than what I had set out to do until then. It was also a more harrowing process, but worth it in the end because it did not allow me to take the easy way out.