A cake could be a tart

And other lessons in 'failure'

The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about failure. Seed Pods are a SmallStack community project designed to help smaller publications lift each other up by publishing and cross-promoting around a common theme. We’re helping each other plant the seeds for growth!

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Photo by Steve Gurvetson

I'm always pondering failure. And not just my own, FYI.

This quote popped out the other day while reading The Monocle Minute newsletter. It’s from Newsweek Editor, screenwriter (Cast Away, Apollo 13, Jar Head) and Vietnam vet Bill Broyles.

It's fascinating how attitudes differ from person to person. Some use fear of failure to drive themselves on while others block it out, liberated by their ruthless ability to charge forward from one uninhibited moment to the next in pursuit of success.

Choosing my biggest failure is difficult and not because there are so many. There are no real rock-bottom stories – professionally anyway – or gasp-inducing anecdotes to share. It's more a nagging, pervasive sense that I haven't quite cracked life yet. Being present in the moment, at peace with myself, not sweating the small stuff, taking more risks… that sort of thing.

Sure, I've tasted my fair share of rejection – by institutions, companies, crushes. One formative experience was the time I was given a 'C' in AS level history, accompanied by a scathing exam moderator's report, convinced beforehand that my efforts would almost certainly be rewarded with an 'A'.

Sounds trivial on paper but the demotion rocked me. It made me question my ability to think critically and write at a time when my studies meant everything to me and I, like many other teens, was desperate to discover what I was good at. After mourning the prodigy I thought I was, I accepted the feedback and vowed to get better. The following year I collected that 'A'.

There is no shortage of blustery posts out there from founders or influencers about the importance of trying new things, failing big, dusting yourself off and then going again. But there is no formula as such. All any of us can do is be bold without being reckless. In other words, committing to a life of conscious acceptance of new challenges and lessons. And a willingness to feel vulnerable.

In society we love to fetishise young talent, giving awards for excellence and worshipping the best for their possession of something rare, divine and wholly natural.

The reality is that the Federers, Picassos, Streeps, Messis, even Princes of this world had to graft and raise their bar again and again before they were acknowledged as greats. They had to build a body of work that could not be denied.

It may have taken more or less than the famous 10,000 hours mooted in Gladwell's Outliers. Genes could have been the decisive factor. But one thing is certain: the more you practice, the better your chances are of being good at something. That's what each failure is, essentially – practice.

If their ascent looked effortless, well, that’s because we didn’t see all the work or witness all their setbacks. Sir James Dyson didn't become the vacuum king overnight. He screwed up, over and over again – 5,126 prototypes over 15 years to be precise – before hitting on a winning formula.

A world away from cleaning, there's Victoria Beckham, so often the subject of ridicule as the pouting pop star once more famous for being a WAG than a talent. Her response? She rolled up her sleeves, pursued a passion and became an internationally respected fashion designer. That transformation takes a lot more than talent or money. After a rocky few years, her business, founded in 2008, is finally profitable.

Although wealth can help mitigate risk, it’s hard to escape the fear of judgment by others, which raises self-doubt, kills creativity and stifles growth. Allowing oneself the freedom to fall and change course will open up new possibilities.

We can’t talk about failure without considering the converse in greater detail. Imagine if we all pursued a more personal and gradual path of ‘success’? What would failure mean to us then? What hold would it have on us?

Let’s really go after it. Chase the demon away. I like the idea of a Museum of Failure or an Institute of Brilliant Failures. How about each company publish an annual failure report?

Via Museum of Failure’s Instagram

While you’re figuring it all out, here are some of my favourite quotes about failure – from pithy and poignant observations to relatable life events.

»»»

“Failure. It's such an ugly word, isn't it? It reeks of cancer, of loss: the sense that what once went wrong cannot be set right, that the world has come to an end, that failures are failures forever – that it's not just the project that failed, but you. Successful people, we imagine, are somehow blessed with more optimism, bigger brains and higher ideals than the rest of us. But it's not true. Successful people – creative people – fail every day, just like everybody else. Except they don't view failure as a verdict. They view it as an opportunity. Indeed, it's failure that paves the way for creativity." (novelist Jennifer Egan)

© Fritz Goro/The LIFE Picture Collection

“A mistake is an event, the full benefit of which has not yet been turned to your advantage.” (Edwin Land, co-founder and CEO of Polaroid)

© Leigh Wiener

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it." (Johnny Cash)

“I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games, 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” (Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time)

© Charla Jones

“Only in our failures are we absolutely alone. Only in the pursit of failure can a person really be free. Losers may be the avant-garde of the modern age.” (author Sheila Heti)

“But the light that comes after rain
Is always fierce and clear,
And illuminates the face of everything
Through the transparency of rain.

Despite the initial darkening,
This is the light that failure casts.”
(poet John O’Donoghue)

“His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery." (James Joyce in Ulysses)

“It doesn’t matter how far you might rise — at some point, you are bound to stumble. Because if you’re constantly doing what we do — raising the bar — if you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher, the law of averages predicts that you will, at some point, fall. And when you do, I want you to know this… Remember this: There is no such thing as failure — failure is just life trying to move us in another direction." (Oprah Winfrey at Harvard Commencement in 2013)

Courtesy of Library of Congress

"I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." (Thomas Edison)

“We should not look down on work nor look down on [our early works] as failures. To fail is to give up. But you are in the midst of a moving process. Nothing fails then. All goes on. Work is done. If good, you learn from it. If bad, you learn even more. Work done and behind you is a lesson to be studied. There is no failure unless one stops. Not to work is to cease, tighten up, become nervous and therefore destructive of the creative process.”
(author Ray Bradbury)

A final thought, which I shared on SmallStack a while ago. It popped back in my head because I was baking an olive oil apple cake with spiced sugar the other night. It went … better than expected. Moist. Spongy. Still ‘up’.

“Failure is too absolute and definitive a word in most contexts. I try to avoid it 😉 ‘Failure' is information to help us get where we need to go.

“I tried to make a sponge cake a few months ago. Tricky as the temperature always dips in my range oven when I open to check. And I haven't mastered how much air to whip into the mixture. It deflated and became a tart (that went down very well with friends, regardless). What's the message here? 🤷🏽‍♂️ That good things come from 'unsuccessful' attempts.”

Let me leave you with one final gift. Several years ago I helped make a podcast called My Greatest F**k Up for the much-missed Ideastap. A UK-based charity that worked with leading arts organisations to create industry opportunities for its members.

We interviewed a wide range of people including comedian Josie Long, actress Anna Dawson, record label owner Matt Neale and media maker/storyteller Christian Payne, who writes

Documentally

. Their ‘horror’ stories took us from botched deals to missed flights and literal car crashes on the job.

Shout out to the A-Team: Daniel Oduntan, Bethany Minelle, Sarah Fortescue and Prabhjit Bains.

Listen back!

Have you got an earth-shattering life experience you came back from, a mantra or quote about failure that you live by? I’d love to hear it.

Want to see more posts from this Seed Pod or join in on the fun? Head over to our roundup to learn more!