“I haven’t failed. I’ve just found a thousand ways not to make a lightbulb.”—Thomas Edison
In The Career Game Loop, author Jessica Lindl reminds us that failure is a necessary part of personal and professional growth. She writes, “For great achievers in games and in life, failure isn’t something to fear. Failure isn’t an endpoint, and it isn’t a reflection of who they are.” She makes these points:
First, failure is inevitable. When you try something that you (or no one else) has ever done, you can expect that you won’t be successful the first time. One of the things that holds back innovation (especially in churches) is the idea that something needs to be perfect the first time out of the box. Let’s give each other a bit or grace and freedom to make mistakes.
Second, failure is data. Something is a failure only if you fail to learn from it. When something doesn’t work, it still provides data and insights for adjustment and improvement. A key idea of design thinking is prototyping. Don’t put all of your resources into developing a final product; come up with a quick, “dirty” prototype, try it out, and adapt.
Third, failure is the beginning. If we are truly dedicated to a project, we will learn from our attempts, redesign, and move forward. Sometimes the learning curve is steep, but persistence and learning pay off.
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