Already missed a day on your streak for a New Years Resolution?
Congrats!
Great call.
The sooner you mess up, the better!
When our goal is “perfection,” there’s only one place to go: down.
Last week, I wanted us to not feel bad about starting without a full plan.
This week, we’re going to talk about failing quickly, and why that rules. I was rereading Ed Catmull’s book, Creativity, Inc., about the creative culture at Pixar.
I loved this quote about failure:
“Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new (and, as such, should be seen as valuable).”
The book also included this advice from Andrew Stanton, co-writer and director of A Bug’s Life, director of Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and co-writer of all 4 Toy Story films:
[Andrew is] known around Pixar for repeating the phrases ‘fail early and fail fast’ and ‘be wrong as fast as you can.’
He thinks of failure like learning to ride a bike; it isn’t conceivable that you would learn to do this without making mistakes — without toppling over a few times.
“Get a bike that’s as low to the ground as you can find, put on elbow and knee pads so you’re not afraid of falling, and go.”
So… you missed a day on your journaling streak, or you already missed a workout.
You didn’t fail.
Instead, you learned:
- life has a tendency to get in the way.
- maybe you tried to do TOO much.
- what tactic or strategy didn’t work.
- the world didn’t end.
This talk of prioritizing mistakes and learning reminded me of another great quote:
“Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” – John Steinbeck
Now that we don’t have the pressure of perfection, we can just be good.
If you miss a day, no shame, guilt, or deep self-reflection required.
Start again the next day.
We don’t need to get better at discipline. Sure that would be nice, but that’s also thinking about this backwards…
We need to get better at restarting quickly after a missed day.
That is the most important skill to develop.
If you missed a day, start again today. You’re accumulating wins, not trying to be perfect!
-Steve
PS: If you’re really struggling on the accountability part, we’ve spent the last seven years honing our NF Coaching to provide worldwide accountability in your pocket, without any of the usual shame or guilt attached. Team members have time to chat this week about it!
