Tonight, at similar times around the world, are the O’Reilly Ignite sessions. Wellington is hosting one, and I’m last up after an otherwise impressive line of speakers.(scroll down the homepage to see the speakers and topics)
I’ll be speaking on the topic of Failure – and why it is right to set yourself up to fail rather than to succeed – at least when motorcycle travelling.
Lance Wiggs 
I have read a few different pieces over the last few weeks that are a nice contrast to the mindless ‘focus on achieving, don’t try…DO!’ and worse variations (the secret et al).
I personally believe the best balance is to be prepared for the worst; assess the possible causes of failure and have a mindset ready for the unpredictable yet maintain primary focus on the goal be the most likely outcome.
Recently a friendly sparing partner told me off for saying ‘i will try’ telling me that the subject was doomed unless i believed i would succeed, i replied that i knew the risks and would rather avoid the extra disappointment of a seemingly impossible fail…it seemed at the like more than happy happenstance that the first song i heard on getting into my car afterwards was ‘fail we may, sail we must’ by Andrew weatherall.
Not sure if the above totally relates to your post. :)
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Yes – the talk was about giving it a go and then learning from your mistakes.
I got better and better at motorcycle travel as I failed, figured things out and gained more experience, and as the motorcycle industry started delivering better bikes.
However this was at risk of losing the adventure part of the travel – there was less and less challenge over the years.
My approach is to be very light on preparation and learn as you ride. It took me just one week to prepare for my North and South America trip, and that includes buying and running the bike in, getting and installing the luggage and assembling the other gear. I figured out routs as I went. All in all I had the most adventure when things were not easy – trying to figure out how to get out of predicaments.
It’s the same with business – the learning part, not the make it hard for yourself part. The best way to learn about your customers and business is simply to launch, and to find things out as you grow. That doesn’t mean to say that you ignore the risks, just that you focus on the ones that become apparent, rather than pondering all the things that can go wrong.
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Really enjoyed ignite, you were one of the more entertaining, memorable speakers. Have been to a few similar evening called pecha kucha where same format however have 20seconds for each slide. Last nights speakers in general v.entertaining and would deft go to another night in the future
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