Mindset: Lesson 3

I want you to fail. No, really, I do. Because I don't view failure as a bad thing, but as a natural and essential part of the learning process. (And, by the way, so do neuroscientists.)

One of the problems I think we have in schools is that we train students to fear failure, to avoid it at all costs. Now, to be clear, I'm not suggesting you go out and fail all your classes. But I am suggesting that you should take some risks in your learning. That instead of avoiding things that are hard (because you might fail), you challenge yourself to step up and take on things that are difficult.

I think sometimes students would rather not try (and fail) than try and fail. In the first option it's easy to say, "Oh, I just didn't try." But in the second option it's much harder, because you have to admit that you did try and still weren't successful. But here's the key - almost anyone who has done anything worthwhile has failed. Not just once, but multiple times. We often learn more from trying something and not succeeding than we do from trying something and succeeding, especially if we limit ourselves to only trying "easy" things that we know we'll be successful at.

Here are a couple of videos that illustrate this point that I think are worth your time. The first is from the TED Conference, which speaker Brene Brown (who also has an excellent TED Talk) described this way:

You know what the big secret about TED is? . . . This is like the failure conference. No, it is. You know why this place is amazing? Because very few people here are afraid to fail. And no one who gets on stage, so far that I've seen, has not failed. I've failed miserably, many times.

The key is still to try hard things, even knowing that you might fail, but then learning from it. So the first video is from TED Fellow Myshkin Ingawale. The important point to realize is that he built this device - and it failed. So then he built it 32 more times until it worked. After watching this video, think how important his invention is and how many times he had to "fail" to get a working version.

Video 1 (6:44): A Blood Test Without Bleeding

The second video is designed to be motivational, but I still think it has a good message about "failure."

Video 2 (1:17): Life = Risk

So, what are you willing to try (and perhaps fail) at?

Video 3 (8:20): Failure: The Secret to Success, a Honda Documentary

Video 4 (25:02): What would you attempt to do if you could not fail?

At the time she gave this talk, Regina Dugan was the director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (she is now at Google-owned Motorola). This is a long video, but really worth your time.

Regina Dugan asks a very empowering question, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail." I think it's important to note that she doesn't say you won't fail at some things, in fact she acknowledges that failure is a huge part of any ultimate success. She argues that it's not failure that's the problem, but our fear of failure that prevents us from attempting "great things."

As you begin this class and your high school careers, I want you to try great things, and not let fear hold you back. As Regina Dugan says,

So who are these scientists and engineers at a magical place called DARPA? They are nerds, and they are heroes among us. They challenge existing perspectives at the edges of science and under the most demanding of conditions. They remind us that we can change the world if we defy the impossible and we refuse to fear failure. They remind us that we all have nerd power. Sometimes we just forget.

You see, there was a time when you weren't afraid of failure, when you were a great artist or a great dancer and you could sing, you were good at math, you could build things, you were an astronaut, an adventurer, Jacques Cousteau, you could jump higher, run faster, kick harder than anyone. You believed in impossible things and you were fearless. You were totally and completely in touch with your inner superhero. Scientists and engineers can indeed change the world. So can you. You were born to. So go ahead, ask yourself, what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

I want you to defy the impossible and refuse to fear failure. I want you to get in touch with your inner superhero and change the world. You were born to.