failure. part 2/2

By Greyson Gilbert

Yesterday's post was about learning from failure and being better from it. If you haven't checked it out, go read that first and then come back to this one.

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill

My second and third stories are somewhat similar to my previous story about a recent bow hunting experience, and the necessary value of failure in life. They are real-life examples of a concept in dealing with failure that I will get to in a minute. 

About two weeks after I shot the deer mentioned in "failure. part 1", I found myself back in the blind with a bow in my hand. When I had gotten to the blind, I, once again, had made a rookie mistake. The small windows seemed low enough for me to sit in the chair and still shoot out of, but I didn't check to make sure that my arrow would clear the bottom of the window. A buck, by no means massive, but enough to get my heart racing, stepped out at 25 yards. I took my shot and the arrow glanced off of the bottom of the window frame, shattering in the air and flying into the brush. The deer took off at the sound, and ran out of my life. I felt embarrassed and likened myself to a broken record, but I kept on hunting.

The same deer that I had shot at earlier in the afternoon decided to come back in to feed before sunset. This time, I stood up out of my chair and adjusted my positioning to make sure that I could get the shot. I put my pin on him and loosed the arrow. He crashed in the brush after running only 30 yards.

I guess there must be a trend to me first making a mistake and missing a deer, and then when the next opportunity arises, doing it right and making a quick, clean, ethical kill. Either way, I was ecstatic once again that I had used my former mistake as a learning tool in order to be more successful.

My third story of failure came when I was chasing Guadalupe River Rainbow Trout in early January. Early in the afternoon, a buddy and I had found a deep pool in the river where massive trout were held up. He caught one soon after we started seeing fish, and after he released his rainbow, I was hooked up with my own. This was by far the biggest trout I had ever fought, and I could feel its strength with every run it took. After what seemed like an eternity (in reality, probably only 5 minutes,)  I got tired and careless and accidentally let some slack in the line. With one head shake, the fly was out of his mouth and the biggest trout of my life was gone.

I was frustrated with myself. I'm a competitive person, and I was disappointed that I got lazy and let up, which resulted in me losing the fish. I had to remember that the fight isn't over until the fish is in the net, but that it also wasn't the end of my life, much less my day of fishing. Big trout were still eating and we were on a mission. About 20 minutes later, I spotted a rainbow in a deep pool at the bottom of a rapid and placed a perfect cast in front of him. He took the fly, and once again I was hooked up. This time, I kept line tension the whole way through and we landed him. Although not quite the size of the last fish that I had hooked, He was still my biggest rainbow yet, and an incredible experience. I had failed, learned, and was successful.

All of these examples have been through the outdoors and hunting and fishing from the last few weeks of my life. Honestly, pretty much everything I have ever learned in the pursuits of hunting and fishing have been through trial and error, but that isn't the only area of life that this concept applies to. Sports. Work. Fitness. Everything. If you dare at all, you will fail. That's what Teddy Roosevelt meant when he gave a speech in 1910, famously called "The Man in the Arena." You may have seen it mentioned in "failure. part 1," but the following is the excerpt from the speech:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

It is not the critic who counts. Always remember that. If you dare greatly and fail greatly, remember that you are the one out there, stumbling, failing, and getting back up again, no matter who mocks or criticizes you.

Jocks Willink is a decorated Navy SEAL, author of the leadership book Extreme Ownership, co-founder of Echelon Front, where he is a leadership instructor, speaker, and executive coach. The first time I ever listened to his podcast, called "Jocko Podcast," (which you can find here,) he said something that altered the way I thought about and viewed failure:

"I actually have a fairly simple way of dealing with these situations [failure, disaster, and defeat]. It's actually one word to deal with these situations...

And that is "Good."

This is actually something that one of my direct subordinates, that worked for me, pointed out to me. He would call me up, pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on...

He would say "Boss, we have this, and that, and another thing..."

And I would say "Good."

Finally one day, he was telling me about an issue that he was having, some problem...

He said "I already know what you're going to say."

And I said "Well, what am I going to say?"

"You're going to say 'Good.' That's what you always say. When something is wrong and going bad, you always just look at me and say 'Good'."

And I said...

"Well yeah and I mean it."

And that is how I feel. When things are going bad, there's going to be some good that is going to come from it...

"How do you deal with failures? One word.... "Good."

Oh, the mission got cancelled? - Good.... We can focus on the other one. 

Didn't get the new high speed gear we wanted? - Good.... We can keep it simple. 

Didn't get promoted? - Good.... More time to get better. 

Didn't get funded? - Good.... We own more of the company.

Didn't get the job you wanted? - Good.... You can get more experience and build a better resume.

Got injured? - Good... Needed a break from training.

Got tapped out? - Good.... It's better to tap out in training, then tap out in the street.

Got beat? - Good.... You learned. 

Unexpected problems? - Good.... We have the opportunity to figure out a solution.

That's it. When things are going bad, don't get all bummed out, don't get startled, don't get frustrated.... No. You just look at the issue and you say "Good."

I encourage you to think about this next time you encounter failure. Don't get discouraged.  Get up, debrief, dust yourself off, reload, and get back in the arena of life. Learn from failure, and apply what you have learned to be more successful next time.

                                       Dempsey and Firpo by artist George Bellows, 1924