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.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. Want more stories? Read our shared stories from all over.
- About the Author
- Latest by this Author
Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
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