Fail Fast or Flat

Recently I heard someone proudly state in a recorded interview that they like to fail fast. Failing seems so negative, I had to rewind and hear the statement again. The interviewee explained that she prefers to try, fail quickly, learn lessons and build on that experience.

I thought about it for some time. How often do we try to keep rolling with something as it goes further and further downhill? As hard as it might be, it does sound intelligent to recognize the failure early and then correct course.

Practically, last week, I heard a bumping noise when I was driving my car. I pulled over and checked to see if I was dragging anything along. I saw a potential culprit and moved it away. But then the sound persisted. I got home and again checked the tires, which looked fine.

On the next drive, I kept listening to the noise and asked someone else to check the tires. Still looking fine, we continue to drive on the road with a higher speed limit. Downhill and fast caused a different sound and then I said "Enough! The tire is for sure flat. I can't drive anymore." And it was totally flat.

Long story short, the tire was changed and I went to the tire place for a costly replacement.

Live and Learn

End of the tire story, right? Nope.

This week, I heard the noise again. This time, I knew that waiting longer would only lead to more harm. I checked the suspected tire and there weren't any clues. I drove a little to rotate the wheel and then I spotted a screw in the tire. I drove slowly to the same tire place and they put on a patch. It was an inexpensive fix and I was able to continue on.

So which is a better scenario?

Catch the fail as soon as you can! Failure doesn't have to be personal, however fixing it will be a lot less painful now than it will be if you let it progress.

It might sound scary, however failing is a part of life and can be the key to success when we learn from it.