El físico Richard Feynman, ganador del Premio Nobel una vez dijo, – Con el objetivo de tener éxito busco fracasar tan rápido como pueda. – Nobel Prize winner Physicist Richard Feynman once said “In order to succeed I try to fail as fast as I can.”
Today in the NPR radio program Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan interviewed David Shenk about his new book; The Genius in All of Us in which Shenk made a reference to Richard Feynman the great Physicist and Mathematician who said when talking about his own process of accomplishment, and I quote:
“In order to succeed I try to fail as fast as I can.”
That little piece of wisdom summed up in this particular arrangement of words deserves it’s own special space, don’t you think?
Shenk quoted Feynman as he was explaining the findings of the most recent research done on how the most accomplished of folks, like star athletes, like phenomenal musicians etc., got to be who they are. The battle between nature vs. nurture, that is how some of us come to be so good at something and others not so much, as many of us suspected, is not a battle exactly but rather the way in which each individual applies and focuses what they’ve been given …. or, a bit more like a dance! One can be dealt a DNA that foreshadows great things but if the holder of such rich raw material does nothing with it …. well, nothing comes of it.
On the other hand one can be rather averagely gifted but apply themselves in such a way that they find themselves the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for Physics; case in point Feynman who is purported to have had an IQ of only about 125!
So back to our lovely arrangement of words …. Feynman explained his success through a process and a belief that if he worked as hard and as fast as he could to fail …. in other words, in search of his limit …. …. and then kept on working or did what was necessary to break through and past this point, he was advancing and succeeding! He worked with fervent dedication in search of that ‘failure wall’ again ….. and again….. and again…… !!!! He felt he wasn’t doing what was possible unless he was looking for a way to smash through some wall.
I like this idea. It speaks to it being a ‘process’ upon which we ought to be focused rather than some illusive static state called ‘mastery’. There is no such thing as ‘mastery’ after all, is there? What masquerades as ‘mastery’ is merely a scenic outcropping upon which we may rest, if we dare, on our way to that something more that can be accomplished or learned. Every field of endeavor is a testament to this fact. Knowledge knows no ceiling … only undernourishment from a lack imagination and effort.
Happy happy day! Suddenly it can be failure for which we seek and can with total abandon, embrace and celebrate! Failure has quietly and slyly revealed to us it’s alter ego – it’s really a very detailed road map that illuminates the way to our coveted success. Aquí estamos, Joan
Wow! Then I must be doing quite well…since I know I fail a lot.
A real “gem”. I’ve grown “too soon old und too late schmart.” Wish I had seen and absorbed this when I was a teen ager – or at least somewhere between then and now.
But here is the good news Ken …. we are talking about a process here … not some end point in an accumulation of knowledge …. it is never too late … I’m no spring chicken either but I relish this fresh way to think about learning. Here’s to pushing ourselves to the limit and being proud every time we reach it …. regardless of where we find ourselves! Un saludo, Joan