Follow-Up on Failure

Sometimes the best advice just isn’t that great to hear. It’s really fun to plan for the times when everything is working perfectly… but sometimes things just don’t go how you want them to.

This might not be the most popular topic… and it certainly isn’t the most fun — but it’s absolutely essential.

You need to know when it’s time to quit and move on... and that’s what this video is all about — how to make the best of those uncomfortable situations.

Jeff Walker (no relation) is one of the guys Mike Cernovich recommends to his readers. Jeff's one of those honest guys in the game of teaching folks how to be successful, and this video is one of those reasons. Here he is talking about failure, and what he's talking about here is the idea of "failing fast": honing your discernment as to the reality of your efforts, admitting to yourself when you done goofed as soon as you can, and then cutting losses swiftly so you can mitigate the consequences and recover faster.

Threading the needle between where most people are (unable to take risks due to consequences being catastrophic) and where many wish to go (the sort of prosperity and happiness Jeff enjoys) is not just a matter of risk mitigation. Go watch that video again; go to his YouTube channel and watch others. There's a clear pattern to what he--and the other honest guys like Mike--are about: Knowing Yourself. This is where Mike, Jeff, and others like them get their "mindset" concept (and why it works).

The other thing that they acknowledge is that it (as is said) often takes 10-15 years to become an overnight success. Yes, there are exceptions (my friend Scott Lynch is one of them, and he still nearly blew it), but there's a reason the hot world-class young stars in their mid-20s got started shortly after they mastered walking and running: that's how long it reliably takes to go from Newbie to World Class, assuming that you've got that degree of potential (and most don't) at all.

Focusing on mindset also means focusing on the process and not a distant goal; Scott Adams goes into this at his blog often. I recommend reading them, if only become we are coming into a time where avoiding risk will become impractical, so building up the resources--including the mind--needed to take risks responsibly is necessary.