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Let's talk about "Failing To Succeed".
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Let's talk about "Failing To Succeed".

Yes, it's a double entendre šŸ¤“āœšŸ¾

Richard Awoyemi
Oct 20, 2020
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Let's talk about "Failing To Succeed".
thestartup.substack.com

Failure feels like a taboo subject among startups. We say ā€œover 90%ā€ fail, but scanning through over 200,000 discussions on IndieHackers (a community of founders), less than 3% mention failure whatsoever. But there’s a lot to learn! After reading this, hopefully, you won’t be as scared to discuss failing - we may even laugh about it.


What’s the problem? šŸ¤”

I’m no psychologist šŸ¤¦šŸ¾ā€ā™‚ļø, but, here’s my struggle in a tweet (or two):

Twitter avatar for @chrisbrownridgeChris Brownridge @chrisbrownridge
šŸ’Æ I grew up always focused on being ā€œtop of my classā€. School conditioned me to always want to be right- i got rewarded with ā€˜points’ for being right vs wrong. ā˜ļøcontributed to my struggle to move from ā€˜feeling like a failure’ to embracing failure when I shut my 1st startup.

Arvid Kahl @arvidkahl

@thisiskp_ Schools sure have prepared us to fear getting things wrong.

September 19th 2020

3 Retweets19 Likes

Embracing The Fear šŸ’ŖšŸ¾

As a startup, one of your most significant superpowers is your ability to iterate quickly. However, an unhealthy fear of failure stifles that, making us perfectionists or procrastinators:

Image
(Credits - Jack Butcher)

I found this working on my first project. Our desire to be perfect was paralysing at worst and was painfully slow at best. Everything from product launch to social media posts was far too time-consuming. Fearing imperfection left us majoring on minors. However, embracing failure as a possibility is necessary for rapid progress.

Even now, I still struggle with it (as I write), but I’ve learnt a few things:

  1. Don’t suppress fear 🤐 - instead, practice the uncomfortable and expand your comfort zone;

  2. Where there’s no chance of failure, there’s no room for growth; and

  3. Failure doesn’t have to be ultimate or purposeless. Aim to ā€œfail forwardā€ - iterate and pivot your product and ideas until you succeed.


Let’s Run The Numbers šŸ§‘šŸ½ā€šŸ«

Failure is offputting until you realise it’s advantageous because it allows us to move on and try other things. Assuming only 5% of startups ā€œsucceedā€:

The more attempts you make, the greater your odds of finding success - which actually improves faster than this if you allow for the things you’ve learnt from previous attempts. This also extends to experimenting with product features. When faced with poor the odds, testing more ideas quickly speeds up your product development.


Book Extracts šŸ¤“

šŸ“š Book -Ā The Lean Startup:

ā€œIf you cannot fail, you cannot learn.ā€

Startups aim to understand and solve customer’s problems more quickly than anybody else. Accomplishing this requires you to create an environment conducive for learning, regardless of whether your assumptions are proven right, or wrong.


šŸ“š Book -Ā The Hard Thing About Hard Things:

ā€œThe Struggle is not failure… The Struggle is where greatness comes from.ā€


šŸ“š Book -Ā The 4-Hour Work Week:

ā€œEustress, on the other hand, is a word most of you have probably never heard… Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress—stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.ā€


šŸ—£ Additional Quotes:

Niels Bohr - ā€œAnĀ expert is a man who has made allĀ theĀ mistakes which can beĀ made, in a narrow field.ā€

Frank Wilczek - If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.

Bill Gates - "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."

Horace - ā€œAdversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.ā€


Food For Thought šŸ½

  • Kyle Gawley - The Startup Success Delusion That Put Me In Hospital

  • Sahil Lavingia - Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company

  • David Brown - Heres What Fail Fast Really Means

  • Google product graveyard - Killed By Google

  • When impostor syndrome strikes, remember šŸ’­:

    Twitter avatar for @jackbutcherJack Butcher @jackbutcher
    Almost every day I have the pleasure of speaking to someone who is objectively ā€œsuccessfulā€ by every measure. Every single one admits they are winging it.

    October 19th 2020

    52 Retweets447 Likes

TwitterĀ |Ā LinkedInĀ |Ā Indie HackersĀ |Ā Product HuntĀ |Ā Personal Site


If you enjoyed this - pleaseĀ shareĀ the posts or snippets that stood out! Additionally, go ahead and click thatĀ subscribeĀ button if you’re not already, you won’t regret it :)

Thanks for reading!

R.

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Dexter Awoyemi
Oct 20, 2020Liked by Richard Awoyemi

Really great read bro. Very relevant to me as well. Keep it up!

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Solomon Oyemade
Writes Ikigai Journal Oct 20, 2020Liked by Richard Awoyemi

This Is exactly what I needed to hear today!, There's a lot to be said about mourning the death of the first plan. Collectively I think 2020 has seen most people have to improvise and adapt to overcome the challenges. Mike Tyson hilarious adage "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" has brought me a perverse joy as I watch my initial plans go up in smoke.

"Fearing imperfection left us majoring on minors." < God damn you for this! :) Hit me right in the feels.

Thanks for your post I'm printing off the probability of success chart and putting it on a postcard to pin to the wall. Keep doing what you do, your Substack is great. Thanks.

Solomon

Founder of https://ikigaijournal.substack.com/

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