SMART FAILURE: IT’S A THING

Growing up, failure was not something I was comfortable with. If I bombed out on a 1OOmetre race or a maths test, I let it change the colour of everything. Failure can do that, you see. It can hang around long after it’s delivered its first blow, like a homing hawk waiting to decimate everything. Failure will slay your confidence. It’s the uncomfortable kink in the road that leads us away from our direction of travel – at least, this is the narrative we have been sold.

I spent my early career fleeing from failure. I didn’t want its scarlet letter burned on my CV, so I didn’t take risks. I didn’t push forward with opportunities I desperately wanted to pursue in case I failed. Failing was bad. Failing, so the saying goes, ‘was not an option’.

What a mistake that was. The biggest successes I have had are the ones where I failed the most. Like the first time I became an editor of a glossy women’s magazine. I was so naive, it was micro-failure after micro-failure as I ventured into uncharted waters. But every failure I had was a new piece of information that, once examined, orientated me towards the quickest path to success. That magazine went on to become the most successful women’s launch of the past 15 years. But if I hadn’t failed early on, I doubt whether it would have been.

My point is, you need failure. But one that is calculated, not created by carelessness. I call it ‘smart failure’ – a way to dip your toes into new possibilities while limiting the damage along the way. Pop-ups are smart failure; so are limited-edition products. If they work, wonderful! If they don’t? You pick them apart. Examine what went wrong. Tuck that knowledge in your pocket and build on those mistakes.

How can you fail smarter? Ensure the risks don’t outweigh the outcome. Make a list of what is likely to go wrong, might go wrong and what should not go wrong. Most of all, pick through your mistakes – that’s where true gold lies. You just have to be brave enough to do it. Farrah is the author of The Discomfort Zone: How to Get What You Want from Living Fearlessly (Piatkus), out now

“EVERY FAILURE I HAD WAS A NEW PIECE of INFORMATION that LED ME TOWARDS the QUICKEST PATH to SUCCESS”