Everybody says, “Embrace failure.” Sounds such bullshit, right?
But here is the thing that we don’t talk about.
There are two kinds of failure:
Type 1 failure:
This is like you jumping from a plane and the parachute fails to open — this failure kills you. E.g., someone mortgages their house and puts everything at stake to start a business, and finally, they go bankrupt.
Avoid this type of failure at all costs.
Type 2 failure:
This is like giving a speech before a crowd and it flops. Yes, it is embarrassing but it doesn’t kill you. And if you are perceptive, you may learn what not to do the next time.
This ‘type 2 failure’ is what we should be willing to risk.
Don’t go around looking for failure but if you have to embrace something, it better be a ‘type 2 failure.’ And make sure to learn from it — let the pain of failure be the tuition you pay for the learning you get from it.
– Rajan