Name: The Up Side of Down
Rating: 3.7 (16 reviews)
Author: Megan McArdle

What’s in it for me? Find out why you need to fail first to finally reach your goals.

When you first don’t succeed, try and try again. Sure, it may seem like wise advice, but is it true?

It turns out that success is not just about the trying, but also about the failing. While you might think that failing to meet your goal the first or even the second time makes you a loser, think again!

These blinks will show you that failure isn’t a bad thing; in fact, you need to fail to reach your goals. Creating an environment where failure is not just okay but encouraged will help improve how you experiment with ideas to achieve success sooner than you think.

In the following blinks, you’ll discover

what Swiss cheese has to do with avoiding disasters;
the major problem with bankruptcies; and
how anchor Dan Rather lost his job at CBS.

Learning how to fail gracefully is truly the only way to progress, and eventually, succeed.

Sometimes it feels as though some people crash into every possible hurdle, while others never seem to even stumble.

The truth is that we all fail. It’s how we fail that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.

One way that we struggle with failure has to do with how we conceptualize it, incorrectly assuming that success comes from an innate talent or intelligence, rather than through hard work and commitment.

Take Carol Dweck’s experiment, for example, in which two groups of children took a simple test and all passed. The children then got to choose from a collection of follow-up tests that varied in difficulty.

One group was told they did well on the first test because of “how smart they were.” This group was likely to choose an easy follow-up test.

The second group was told they did well “because of their hard work.” This group, in contrast, was much more willing to take on a challenge with a more difficult test, and succeed in the face of adversity.

When children are praised for their innate skills, they find it harder to face challenges. “Naturally gifted” people will prefer to take an easier road over a bumpy one.

Such people can’t fail gracefully. When coddled children finally end up in college or the “real world,” they don’t understand the importance of hard work, how to take criticism or how to fail.

It’s not innate talent but graceful failure that leads to success, even if it’s a long and painful process. Those who see failure as normal and surmountable, who have a growth mentality, see that they have nothing to fear from failure.

Mark Twain, for example, was a largely unsuccessful writer before he wrote Huckleberry Finn. Isaac Newton made blunders, too. Before his breakthrough discoveries in physics, he was drawn to alchemy, a pseudo-science that is now the laughing stock of the scientific community.

Our predictions won’t always help us avoid failure. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

When you’re trying to make up your mind to engage in a project, you may try to predict whether you’ll succeed or fail – mostly to see if the effort is worth your time.

However, such predictions are often laughable in hindsight.

Safety systems may reduce the chance of failure, but failures can and will still happen.

Have you noticed that the more you rely on spell check, the worse your spelling becomes?

Indeed, our reliance on such safety systems, made possible by increasingly sophisticated technology, actually can cause us to make mistakes. What’s more, they also delude us into thinking we’re invincible.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. Yet it doesn’t help to try to cover up mistakes, honest or otherwise.

You might have the bad habit of trying to create a reality that matches your expectations, but in the process fail to see what is really in front of you.

Just before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, for example, journalist Dan Rather broke the news that George W. Bush had gone AWOL during the Vietnam War.

Don’t be an ostrich when failure hits; be strong and change course before everything is lost.

Have you ever stayed in relationship you felt was unhealthy, or at a company that you knew was doomed? The reason for doing so lies at least in part in human nature.

People often act as if nothing is wrong, even when all signs point to disaster.

One of the more successful global franchise owners was for most of his life a complete failure.

Unemployment is the pits. Having less money causes stress; your skill atrophy; and the economy as a whole suffers.

So what’s the best way to deal when you find yourself without a job?

When things go wrong, the simple explanation is not always the correct one.

It’s only natural that we try to identify the reasons for failure or disaster. Unfortunately, we all too often rush to judgment once we’ve decided who the culprit is or what’s to blame.

Take the Great Recession. Some people blame the government, which, by encouraging access to easy credit, allowed people to spend beyond their means, or trade in subprime mortgage bonds.

The most effective punishment for crime is consistent and certain, not draconian.

Sometimes people fail in ways that require society to intervene through the criminal justice system. So what is the best way to deal with people who break society’s rules?

The answer doesn’t lie in putting more people behind bars. In fact, the U.S. prison system is damaging to society in the long term.

Bankruptcy is not failure. U.S. laws allow entrepreneurs to get quickly back on their feet.

Imagine you’ve been kidnapped by gangsters, who have tied cement blocks to your feet and thrown you in a river. A nightmare situation, for sure!

Yet to some financial advisers, this scenario is the legal equivalent of being shackled by long-term debt.

Zusammenfassung von The Up Side of Down

The Up Side of Down
in 9 Kernaussagen verstehen

What’s in it for me? Find out why you need to fail first to finally reach your goals.

Learning how to fail gracefully is truly the only way to progress, and eventually, succeed.

Our predictions won’t always help us avoid failure. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

Safety systems may reduce the chance of failure, but failures can and will still happen.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. Yet it doesn’t help to try to cover up mistakes, honest or otherwise.

Don’t be an ostrich when failure hits; be strong and change course before everything is lost.

One of the more successful global franchise owners was for most of his life a complete failure.

When things go wrong, the simple explanation is not always the correct one.

The most effective punishment for crime is consistent and certain, not draconian.

Bankruptcy is not failure. U.S. laws allow entrepreneurs to get quickly back on their feet.

Kernaussagen in The Up Side of Down

Einleitung

Learning how to fail gracefully is truly the only way to progress, and eventually, succeed.

Our predictions won’t always help us avoid failure. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

Safety systems may reduce the chance of failure, but failures can and will still happen.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. Yet it doesn’t help to try to cover up mistakes, honest or otherwise.

Don’t be an ostrich when failure hits; be strong and change course before everything is lost.

One of the more successful global franchise owners was for most of his life a complete failure.

When things go wrong, the simple explanation is not always the correct one.

The most effective punishment for crime is consistent and certain, not draconian.

Bankruptcy is not failure. U.S. laws allow entrepreneurs to get quickly back on their feet.

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The Up Side of Down in 9 Kernaussagen verstehen

What’s in it for me? Find out why you need to fail first to finally reach your goals.

Learning how to fail gracefully is truly the only way to progress, and eventually, succeed.

Our predictions won’t always help us avoid failure. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

Safety systems may reduce the chance of failure, but failures can and will still happen.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. Yet it doesn’t help to try to cover up mistakes, honest or otherwise.

Don’t be an ostrich when failure hits; be strong and change course before everything is lost.

One of the more successful global franchise owners was for most of his life a complete failure.

When things go wrong, the simple explanation is not always the correct one.

The most effective punishment for crime is consistent and certain, not draconian.

Bankruptcy is not failure. U.S. laws allow entrepreneurs to get quickly back on their feet.

Kernaussagen in The Up Side of Down

Einleitung

Learning how to fail gracefully is truly the only way to progress, and eventually, succeed.

Our predictions won’t always help us avoid failure. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

Safety systems may reduce the chance of failure, but failures can and will still happen.

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. Yet it doesn’t help to try to cover up mistakes, honest or otherwise.

Don’t be an ostrich when failure hits; be strong and change course before everything is lost.

One of the more successful global franchise owners was for most of his life a complete failure.

When things go wrong, the simple explanation is not always the correct one.

The most effective punishment for crime is consistent and certain, not draconian.

Bankruptcy is not failure. U.S. laws allow entrepreneurs to get quickly back on their feet.

Worum geht es in The Up Side of Down?

Bestes Zitat aus The Up Side of Down

Wer The Up Side of Down lesen sollte

Über den Autor

Kategorien mit The Up Side of Down

Ähnlich wie The Up Side of Down

Leute mochten auch

Entdecke den Blinkist Katalog

Beliebte Titel

Meistgeklickte Kategorien

Beliebte Themen

Angesagte Themen

Ausgewählte Titel

The Up Side of Down
in 9 Kernaussagen verstehen