I heard these thoughts about failure on Twitter today, and wanted to share them with you, too.
It may help to know that Twitter is a messaging system, with a 140 character limit on message size and rather informal. You’ll find me there, too. These are unedited, just as they appeared. I bolded a few favorites.
ChrisBrogan: What do you do after you fail?
ChrisCree: I get back up! (Oh, sure I might wallow for a bit. But I don’t stay down for long.)
Graydancer: You just keep going. Everything else does, after all. Inching along.
MMcAllen: I usually retreat and regroup then attack from a different formation or position.
Pistachio: fail again as soon & enthusiastically as possible, until it works. ok that’s what i WANT to do, not always goes that way
KevinKS: I don’t fail. I “conclude a learning experience.”
Randelaw: you mean once the nightmare is finally over? Determine the errors in judgement and vow not to commit them again
ChelPixie: if I fail I look to make sure I can’t fix it, absorb, take a deep breath and move on.
Vaspers: we have nothing to fear but success (i.e. scaling) itself. Then again, I’m a Zero Defects perfectionist. Fail = an experiment
andreamercado: post-mortem the problem, learn from mistakes, try again. :)
ConnieReece: sometimes learning how NOT to do something is an invaluable prelude to figuring out the right way.
ConnieReece: Thomas Edison did not get discouraged when experiments failed because each failure brought him one step closer to an invention that worked.
ChrisBrogan: Follow-up question: do you know when to quit? Do you know when to call the whole thing off?
ChelPixie: No I don’t know when to quit. Let’s just say I like to fix things. It takes me a while to give up on something as lost.
GrayDancer: of course I know when I should quit. Usually it’s a small-but-significant time before I actually do…
KevinKS: “fail” quickly and with thanks, then get onto the next attempt.
goodthingscomin I learn a lesson from failing. I adjust future endeavors. Quitting is something I have a hrd time with. But again, I’m learning
misc: as for quitting, as i was telling chelpixie earlier, i plan to throw in my towels as soon as i can procure a big enough hamper.
If you like those, read more of our series on failure.
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busy adding every Twitterer here as a Friend to follow.
http://twitter.com/vaspers
http://pownce.com/vaspers
http://newreformedinsane.ning.com
This is a WONDERFUL post, and great responses! Thanks to all for sharing!
(If anyone wants to add me, I am “Marti_L” at twitter.)
Proof that Twitter can add value!
Thanks, Vaspers and Marti!
Beck, I love the way you compiled all our responses and put them in one place. Great mashup of Twitter and your blog. Thanks!
Wow! I think you’ve really invented a valuable product here. Obviously, it’s human intensive, but it’s like plucking a fully formed blog post out of thin air. : )
Brilliant.
I thought you invented it, Chris!
Later, in December, Chris asked Twitter about failure again. You’ll find it at his Tumblr blog:
I asked Twitter about managing failure