I keep putting off writing my update on my big project. Remember that post when I was frustrated and wanted my next experiment to work? Well, it didn’t. And the next one didn’t. And then the one after that failed too.
But you know what? Rather than get discouraged enough to quit, alternative ideas kept coming to me: what if I tweaked it this way? What if I did this differently? Or even a completely new approach would form in my thoughts. I have an experiment coming up that is a completely different take on an old concept.
I love that feeling—the feeling of hope in a new approach. The feeling that even though my experiment failed, it is not the end.
When I first started down the inventing trail, like all young inventors presumably, I took it really hard when my experiments failed. It felt like the end of the world. I cried a lot. Then after a few failures, my attitude shifted and I started to see each failure not as the end, but as information about how not to do it.
There are two main ways people take failure: it either makes a person feel so down that they decide to hang up the idea/project/relationship/etc., or they see it as a way to not do it and try a different strategy.
Is everything doable? No, but the doesn’t mean you can’t try. Who knows—you might find a solution everyone missed.
Have you tried a different approach to something lately?
Also, offering the short horror story Toilet Paper went over so overwhelmingly well that I’ve decided to keep it a free download for now. Feel free to enjoy anytime, and check out my other stories!