Fail Fast, Fail Forward
Reflections on failing
I have failed many times in my life. Like many, I learned the concept of failure through grades in school. In Nigeria, an entrance exam is required to get into secondary school (middle/high school). Your score determines whether you will be able to get into a prestigious school or not. When it came to education, we had no other option than to succeed.
I went to university unsure what I wanted to do. I took courses, failed courses, repeated courses, dropped courses, passed some, figured out what I wanted to do, changed my major, and ended up “succeeding” later on. During that time of considering myself a failure, I didn’t understand that I was on the search for what I truly wanted to be doing. I feel like I am there again.
This is a newsletter about failure.
The reality is that failing sucks. I have allowed a single point of failure to tell an entire story about me. There needed to be a difference between “I failed” and “I am a failure”. Self-reduction translates the former to the latter.
In human-centred design, we learn that design is an iterative process—one of trial and error. Before starting a design, figure out what the problem is, and what it is you are trying to make. Speak to the people you are designing for and then start prototyping—work in iterations, allowing your work to be tested. Your prototypes will likely fail those tests, but that is part of the process. Fail often by creating many iterations. Fail fast, fail forward. With each failure, you learn what doesn’t work and can pivot.
I needed these failures to graduate university, and to find a job. I need these failures to advance as a creative. I have observed that the points of stagnation in my life are also the points where I am failing the least. They are also the points where I am trying the least.
So as said in my Design Thinking class, “Fail fast…Fail forward.” Make bad art to figure out how to make good things. Try out things to figure out what works. Write the bad article and post it. We really never know until we try.
Some Things I’m Enjoying Lately:
This new EP by Merges dropped.
Stampede is my favourite song on this project. It’s one of those songs I catch myself humming.
I started reading Austin Kleon’s “Keep Going”. It inspired this post.
The book feels like the creative motivation I need
I’m drawing for fun again. I had a day when I went to a cafe just to draw and read. It was a good time.
I started playing a new card game called Altered. It was a Kickstarter project that is now a reality. It’s a good game.
The starter I got. It has an interesting cataloging system, cards are printed with unique codes. A technical upgrade but a visual drawback. The art and gameplay are great though!
My brother convinced me to start watching Prison Break. I can’t lie, the show is pretty good. The MC is simply an intellectual lol.
I think I found my motto for 2025!