Failure isn't always data. You only learn from it if you do these three things.

Failure is amazing. It is the foundation of the very science that developed the computer on which I'm writing this, as well as the advances in medicine and healthcare that afford me entering my late thirties with my best years still ahead. It's taking us to Mars.

Unfortunately, outside of science, we tend to minimize, ignore, and dismiss failure.

Failing is inevitable. Failure is a state of mind.

Of course we want to avoid failing — it's uncomfortable, personal, & often public. It's also unavoidable. And, you know what? It should sting, and we should try to avoid it. It sucks!

But if we follow these three steps, we'll fail less, and failure serve as a ladder of progress.

Step 1: Develop an hypothesis with a clear pass/fail.

The first step is to allow failure to take place. If we set no bar, we never miss it, and we never have to face it. Before setting out to do anything, write down exactly what success looks like. Use numbers. Don't be fuzzy. Don't "see what happens". If you don't set a goal, you can't fail.

Step 2: When you fail, ask: "what does this mean"?

When you miss the mark (and you will sometimes), ask what that failure means. What does it affect? How big of a deal is it? It's not about action yet — it's about interpreting data. If you don't understand what it means, you can't do anything about it.

Step 3: Transform the data into a change in behaviour.

Now the part too many skip: what are you going to do differently? Do we pivot or persevere? Do we try something new to achieve the goal, set a different goal, or change the path we're on entirely? If you don't do anything differently, there's no upside, and you're choosing to fail the same way again in the future.

Bottom line? When it comes to trying new things, never just "see what happens", because you'll always succeed...in seeing what happens. But you'll never learn anything.