Comments on: I Sincerely Hope You Fail

By: Fuck Your Lists

Fuck Your Lists — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:03:48 +0000

[...] 4. Accolades make you complacent. Being told you’re wonderful is an excuse to stop growing and a warning to start protecting what you’ve already done, for fear that someone else will chip away at your perceived excellence. Like all things, success is best enjoyed in moderation. And as I’ve said before, prior to attaining your career-defining success, I sincerely hope you fail. [...]

By: 10 Things to Do If Your SXSW Panel Is Rejected / Justin Kownacki

10 Things to Do If Your SXSW Panel Is Rejected / Justin Kownacki — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:12:42 +0000

[...] up, kid. We all suffer the stink of failure every so often. What separates the winners from the people most likely to get a degree from Full [...]

By: sweetney

sweetney — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:17:59 +0000

Wild success seems creative poison. I’d agree with that.

My favorite quote — the one that’s the tagline for my site — is from Samuel Beckett:

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

This seems the right position to me. The inevitability of failure, the necessity of hope despite that. Hope is what allows our failures to be creatively enriching and not just fucking depressing.

By: Sanyika Calloway Boyce

Sanyika Calloway Boyce — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:32:27 +0000

I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded so far; but I look forward to the future where my failure is already factored into my success! After all, every failure is a step towards success. So we cannot be fooled by the falling down, for the victory is in the getting back up again no matter what. As is quoted by Mary Schmich “Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”

By: Twitted by m_gl

Twitted by m_gl — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:00:43 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by m_gl [...]

By: Jon Radoff

Jon Radoff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:49:39 +0000

I once attended a speech by Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp. For many years, DEC was one of the strongest computer manufacturers–and then they plummeted. In the speech, Ken made an interesting claim: that early *success* is what ultimately killed DEC.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:04:53 +0000

You’re right. Nobody looks at this stuff anyway… Let me restate… Great post!

By: Colin Dean

Colin Dean — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:12:22 +0000

I think what you’re getting at is that failure is a necessary requirement for success. We all fail some time, and we have to understand and experience failure in order to understand and experience what it is to succeed.

If we succeed all the time, our success consumes us. If we fail all the time, we either become disheartened and eliminate ourselves from the gene pool of services, products, etc., or we become more resilient and try harder so that we succeed.

It’s a survival of the fittest argument, no?

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:00:45 +0000

Not a problem, Frank. I’m sure posting anonymous, context-free comments to people’s blogs has been a fruitful way for your company to vet potential service providers, since everyone else on the web is all too eager to respond honestly and earnestly to every nameless visitor they encounter.

Paradoxically, you refuse to divulge information about yourself because you believe that being misleading is a sound approach for your businesses, yet when you don’t receive straightforward answers to your context-free questions, you consider that to be unprofessional. I’m unconcerned with your opinion, but I am amused by your approach, and I really do wish you well on your quest for knowledge. I’m sure you’d wish me the same; perhaps we’ll both find our successes at the end of a rainbow of failure.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:14:05 +0000

For one who offers a Social Media Crash Course, did this conversation go against anything that you tell your clients in that course? It could only discredit both you and your company. This has actually been the worst first contact for potential business that we have had. And yes, we do it anonymously so as not to influence the response based on company name and potential business. Three BS answers to a legitimate question. Thank you. You have gotten exactly what you have been searching for, FAILURE.