Failure has been evolving (much like Barack Obama has) over the years.
In the age of scientific discoveries, failure could be ‘achieved’ by investing funds, intellect and time into certain research, with fruitless results. The exceptions were the likes of Thomas Edison, who only succeeded at inventing the light bulb after over ten-thousand attempts.
Then came the industrial revolution, bringing along the era of white collar jobs. In this dispensation, failure was ‘achieved’ by not getting a good education, or taking your studies seriously for that matter. One sure way to beat the drop in those days was to ‘go to school’, work hard, and earn a living by getting employed. Needless to add that that age is soon fading away.
We live today, in the information age that was fueled first by the advent of the printing press, and now by the internet technology. As with other generations, the road to failure has been reconstructed. Even with good discoveries and a good education, you need one thing to avoid failure – and that is putting your work out there. Call it the courage of execution.
To fail in this age is to keep procrastinating and not taking responsibility or action. Not buying or writing that book; not releasing that song; not writing or starting that blog; not contacting that celebrity; not learning that new skill through YouTube; not searching that solution on Google or the now more reliable and ad-less Bing.com.
The web and the information age has created unique opportunities for each of us to get our work out there and even get funded or paid for it. It is not segregated or overly skill-dependent like the scientific and industrial revolutions were. What’s your excuse?
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