

Fail Upwards - bennesvig
http://www.cstthegate.com/davetrott/2011/11/fail-upwards/

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noelsequeira
The don't-sweat-it-you'll-be-able-to-connect-the-dots-in-hindsight approach to
life is both forgiving and encouraging in an almost avuncular way, especially
when you're going through a period of intense personal turmoil that
accompanies rejection. But then again, it suffers from a heady dose of
survivorship bias.

And so the question begs, how do you know that you're on the periphery of a
cul de sac, and all you need do is retrace your steps and begin with a clean
slate? (This would definitely not have augured well for, say, an Airbnb. Then
again, languishing in mediocrity or persisting in a stagnating job is like a
slow death.)

~~~
dpritchett
It does feel a bit trite, but it lines up just fine with the classics:

 _Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs
away from high places and hastens downwards.

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it
flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is
facing.

Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no
constant conditions.

He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed
in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain._

~~~
trustfundbaby
What's the source for that please?

~~~
metachris
"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu

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Prophasi
The lost concept in anecdotes like this is opportunity cost; he was rejected
from all those art schools and found success -- by some definition -- in going
to NYC. The implication in the story is that success is binary, that you
achieve it or you don't.

But he may've switched to advertising at any of those other schools. Or he may
have stayed in fine arts and enjoyed even greater success that he can't even
dream of now. But those opportunities were lost in favor of the path he took
instead (whether by choice or not).

Arguably, if you end up happy and without regrets, you DID succeed. But not
everyone has that same metric, and depending on your dreams there's a wide
spectrum of possibilities. Being happy doesn't mean you couldn't have been
even happier otherwise.

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jaggederest
I think this is pretty trite. He got pretty lucky, and happened to put in a
lot of hard work to make good on it, and generalizes this to everyone.

Sometimes it's better to ignore the sunk costs and cut your losses - not
everything is about 'never give up'.

~~~
polymath21
Yup, agreed. Here's a great Freakonomics podcast on the upside of quitting
that's quite illuminating: [http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/new-
freakonomics-radi...](http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/new-freakonomics-
radio-podcast-the-upside-of-quitting/)

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sanderson1
I think there's a few underlying themes in this story:

1\. Don't let others get in the way of what you want to do. 2\. Rejection
isn't the end, it's just a wall to climb over. 3\. (This message was
definately between the lines) Success takes hard work.

I know a lot of people I applied to school with and eventually graduated with
felt entitled to a position to the program or to a job after graduation. But
these same people bumbled through school, never really caring or putting in
the work to complete the project the way it needed to be completed.

I'm right there with the author in saying never give up, but not giving up
takes a lot of hard work and you can't forget that.

~~~
zwp
> themes [...] wall to climb over

Urban dictionary (<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fail>
upwards) dates this term 2009.

I originally saw "fail upwards" in alpinist Mark Twight's writings[1] ten
years before that: his sense is to keep going up and over the summit even when
things have gone terribly wrong: you may no longer have the option to descend
the way you came up.

[1] "Extreme alpinism" (passage can be found on google books)

~~~
biotech
<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fail+upwards>

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bobbles
Probably the best thing I ever quit was my 4 months into my 12 month Honours
year at university, I decided to change subjects. (Out of FPGA/HDL
programming.. that just wasnt working for me)

Everyone I talked to told me I was crazy as they continued with subjects they
didnt enjoy, but it allowed me to choose a subject I really loved and produce
something way better than I could have on the original subject. Definitely
worth it

~~~
bobbles
Note: I also worked with plenty that did enjoy their courses, realised how
snobbish that sounded.

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ctdonath
Push until you fail - that last, highest place you got to is where you are
best; to go one step farther is to enter Peter Principle territory, and you
DON'T want to be there (at least not then). Then make the best of that
position, and leap from there. The top rung of the ladder may be higher, but
it's very hard to stay there - the next rung or two down is far more
productive.

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trustfundbaby
I think a lot of folks are missing the point ... All he's trying to say is ...
"Aim high"

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dspeyer
Key question: is it possible to fail upwards deliberately or is it just a
matter of luck?

