Importance of Failure

jstevh_at_msn.com
Date: 02/23/05 

Date: 22 Feb 2005 16:47:47 -0800

One type of post I've noticed come up every once in a while is a post
where some person is informing me that if I don't have everything
figured out, I shouldn't post.

Another of the same variety, informs me that I should have every detail
worked out formally before I dare to put something out in public.

However, in real research failure is part of work, and public failure
is not as important as wasting time with flawed ideas.

I still like the sports analogy of baseball, and I think a LOT of
people in intellectual circles just don't get how important lessons are
in sports, like how even the best players mostly fail--and VERY
PUBLICLY FAIL.

Many of you could not handle it. You'd pee in your pants at the very
thought of being in front of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even
millions of people to try something where you knew going in that more
than likely you would fail--though I doubt ballplayers actually think
of that going in--as you believe that the way the world works is that
the top people, the best people, make it their business to never
publicly fail.

That's just totally wrong.

The top people, the best people, fail quite publicly, and in quite
grand ways, over and over again, but other people in considering the
fantasy of being at the top of their game, believe that the reality is
perfection, or near perfection, where failure is avoided at all costs.

The best way for a ballplayer to avoid failure at all costs is to quit
the game.

Some in looking at my many failures over the years have gone on to give
me more advice, like I should just quit.

Yet that was years ago. I think telling me to quit is a silly way to
publicly fail, especially when I can talk about my accomplishments
since the first people told me, ordered me, to quit.

For over five years I toiled without a major result, and now I have
four.

These results have a real world impact, though many try to deny them,
and that impact grows with each passing day.

Now the people who are looking at public failure are the people who
spend so much time trying to control me and what I do.

I'm more or less, to use another football analogy, like a massive
linebacker who just keeps pushing forward, with lots of little people
dragging at me in various ways, fighting to hold me back--and failing.

MASSIVE FAILURE is often just a way to move forward, as you look at
what went wrong, where your mistakes were, and try to see where to go
next.

But I don't pretend that it's some magnificent thing that I do keep
going--in spite of the orders to stop--as I basically do what I enjoy.

If you learn nothing else in this life, you should learn that you will
always fail at trying to convince someone that they do not enjoy
something they do enjoy.

I enjoy what I do. I don't like the failures, but I accept that they
are part of doing what I enjoy.

Some of you will make posts that basically boil down to trying to
convince me that I don't enjoy what I enjoy, and you will stupidly
fail, as I do enjoy what I enjoy.

But then again, failure is part of life. Maybe some of you, in failing
to convince me, can learn from your errors.

I will keep doing what I clearly enjoy, and take the failures with it,
just like a professional ballplayer.

James Harris

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Importance of Failure
    ... > PUBLICLY FAIL. ... Just accept your failure and learn from your mistakes, ... like I should just quit. ... <snip repeated whining by self degrading, FT the Failed Troll>. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Importance of Failure
    ... > PUBLICLY FAIL. ... Just accept your failure and learn from your mistakes, ... like I should just quit. ... <snip repeated whining by self degrading, FT the Failed Troll>. ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Importance of Failure
    ... However, in real research failure is part of work, and public failure ... PUBLICLY FAIL. ... The best way for a ballplayer to avoid failure at all costs is to quit ... convince me that I don't enjoy what I enjoy, ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Importance of Failure
    ... > However, in real research failure is part of work, and public failure ... > PUBLICLY FAIL. ... like I should just quit. ... > convince me that I don't enjoy what I enjoy, ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Importance of Failure
    ... > However, in real research failure is part of work, and public failure ... > PUBLICLY FAIL. ... like I should just quit. ... > convince me that I don't enjoy what I enjoy, ...
    (sci.crypt)
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