Recasting failure as opportunity.
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Notes
Cynics and pessimists can have a practice, but “they suffer more.” As a defense against failure, cynicism/pessimism becomes a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” It may protect the artist from disappointment, but it prevents shipping work.
With a practice, failure isn’t really failure. We may not reap the desired outcome, but the practice embraces the fact that—inevitably (“simple arithmetic”)—half of one’s output is below average.
Instead of using cynicism to protect yourself when you “fail” (“in quotes if you wish”), celebrate the opportunity.
Thoughts
I’m mistrustful of “positive thinking,” even in Seth’s relatively benign use of it here. (Seth often mentions Zig Ziglar as a kind of [or, possibly, precisely] a mentor.) (Also: I talk about my suspicion of postive thinking in a post from several years back.)
Nonetheless, I can’t argue with anything he says here. Accepting disappointing outcomes must indeed be part of any meaningful practice. As Seth has said many times, the creative work he’s talking about might not work. Seeing that as impending failure, and especially guarding against it with cynicism or pessimism, is clearly counterproductive.
I was originally thinking that this chapter doesn’t really apply that much to me. I’m not an optimist, certainly, but I hope that I’m not a cynic (though I may lean towards pessimism). But I do spend a lot of time avoiding the work out of some sort of fear. I’m not sure what that fear is; if I approach the question rationally, I can’t figure out what’s going on. But fear isn’t rational. And fear—at least, my fear, in this situation—may indeed spring out of a certain pessimism (it won’t work, people won’t connect, I’m not good enough [even if I add yet]).
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.