Failing faster

 

The idea behind this excellent four minute video is that since all of us are likely fail in almost everything we do (at least at first) the key to success is to fail faster.  The argument runs like this: no idea comes out fully formed, it needs to be tweaked, revised and perfected, but you have to get it out there to see how best to improve it.

The guys who made this are game designers, so their view is that if you don't keep testing your stuff, you will never create a good game. Of course, the principle goes way beyond games - it applies to just about anything that any of us do. Your ideas don't have to be perfect, you just have to get on with things. With is another way of saying - stop agonizing - and just do it.

Of course, this is one of the great things about studying a craft. Your work does not have to be perfect, or even near perfect. You just have to keep doing, and trying, until, at the end of course, having made plenty of mistakes along the way, you start to do seriously good work.

So keep at it, and trust in yourself - you will get there, and you will succeed in the end. What we all need to do is learn to fail faster.

---Alex