Your Next Failure

A few weeks ago I attended a panel moderated by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. About half way through, the panel was discussing failure. Ed asked the audience:

Who here is looking forward to their next failure?

My hand had shot up without thinking.

Looking nervously around the room, I realized I was all alone.

Ed didn’t notice my hand. I dumbly realized it was a rhetorical question. If he had called on me, here’s what I would have said:

Failing means you’re trying. Anyone who has done anything of significance — from starting a successful company to raising a child — has failed. Most likely more times than they’ve succeeded.

In 1923, Babe Ruth broke the world record for most home runs in a season. That same year, he also broke the world record for most strikeouts.

Successful people know they they must fail. Again. And again. And again. Before they succeed.

That’s why I’m looking forward to my next failure.

There’s only one direction to go. It might as well be forward.