Failure seems to surround us these days: the failure of the stock market; the banking industry; the automakers. On a personal scale, we might feel the pain of our lost retirements, jobs, and businesses. Even if we’re not technically in a depression, it’s certainly a depressing set of circumstances.

Why not be proactive, even optimistic, then? Rather than drowning in fear and shame over our defeats (or in anticipation of future defeats), we should remember the potential upsides to failure.

Fail confidently.

Failing is essential. Science is all about getting it wrong (at first). Most experiments don’t work at all. But those failures are necessary to arrive at the right answer. Ditto evolution. Failures of individuals and species result in adaptation and fitness to the environment. It’s a form of cognitive bias that we dwell upon the success stories without considering the contribution of messing up along the way.

In our lives, failure is a great teacher. Better than success most of the time. You're more likely to remember the questions you got wrong on a test than those you got right. Make a bad choice and suffer for it and you are less likely to make the same mistake again.

Sometimes we don’t take the hint that failure gives us. We blame bad luck or circumstances. Or worse, we stop trying. If we take responsibility and try again, every failure is an opportunity to discover something about yourself, your product, your company. Who knows? Maybe you're in the wrong business?

I am reminded of Mark Fenske’s missive Maybe You Suck.

Maybe advertising is your calling.
You should find that out.
…
Or, maybe you suck.
Equally important to discover.

Rather than hide or stigmatize failure, we ought to be honest about it. We should embrace it.

Homework: Read Paul Arden’s Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. It’s practically a whole book on the topic.

"What happens to a hamburger is what happens to the people."
- Mark Fenske, I Hate Capitalism, Branded Food & the Internet (ruminations from a drive across America).

A standard Fenske blog post takes the form of a letter to his students. Here is an example excerpted in its entirety (sans picture):

Q: What Does the Pilot of an Airliner Do if the Plane Suddenly Drops 2000 Feet?

A: Look up from his newspaper.

Dear Students,
You're not going to get any preparation for this in your classes.
But you should know it.
The key to success in big time advertising: learn to live out of a carryon.
Don't get into this business unless you truly love airplanes.
Merry Christmas.
The holiday dedicated to us not having to get what we deserve.

I quote his post here in verbatim, as I can't think of a more effective advertisement for his inimitable style. He's like Paul Arden, if Arden were a character in a Kafka story.

Among my favorite of his aphorisms: A Promise is an Infomercial, Maybe you suck, and this image, from It's February. Time to let Mr. Wacko in:

His blog is markfenske.com.