Pearls of Wisdom

Failing Well

Want to thrive? First, learn to fail. Most of us try hard to avoid failure – and tend to be embarrassed if things go wrong. But embracing our failures can be a crucial part of our personal growth. When Sara Blakely, the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire, was a child, her father would routinely ask her: “How did you fail today?” He ‘high-fived’ her when she didn’t make the cheerleading squad, and again when she lost her campaign for class president. Sara was trying things not with the expectation of success, but rather, ‘for the experience and the stories and the people’ she met. Want to try more things and learn from your missteps? Dr. Amy Edmondson, a professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, recommends that we: 1) Put our failures into context – no catastrophizing! 2) Learn how to pivot: don’t wallow, but rather, move on or change direction. 3) Share your failures: humility and honesty are the ‘two essential ingredients’ of the ‘fail well’ mind set. New York Times, September 15, 2023.

Linking Happiness to Wisdom

Marcus Aurelius said that “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” Does this mean that we must avoid low-quality thoughts to be happy? A jump back into the archives of The Atlantic suggests this is indeed the case but with a twist: Our well-being is correlated with our ability for ‘wise and pragmatic reasoning’ that help us to navigate the ‘important challenges in social life.’

As reflected above⁽¹⁾, the older we become, the stronger the correlation: Wise seniors have higher well-being than their ‘unwise’ peers. As such, for the young among us, cultivating wisdom – and in particular, wisdom that leads to wise action – is a worthy long-term investment. Think of it as a virtuous circle: Acting wisely reduces conflict in your life, which fosters a sense of well-being, which makes it easier to act wisely, and so forth. Perhaps our stoic Roman Emperor was on to something.   The Atlantic, August 9, 2012.

Take it Down a Notch

Are you giving it your all? Maybe that’s too much. To be at our best, we would do well to dial it back a bit. The trick is to try for 85%, in other words, the ‘Magic Number for Productivity.’ At first blush, this notion is anathema to those of us raised on the age-old doctrine of relentless effort and hard work. But quite often, aiming for perfection in our work, health and personal development can backfire and burn us out. The recently increased ability to compare ourselves to others, fueled by social media and the like, can make achieving 100% an unrealistic and exhausting pursuit. In embracing our 85%, we may come to realize that sometimes doing a little less not only conserves energy but also fosters growth & resilience, and a more sustainable path to efficiency and productivity in all aspects of our lives. The Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2023.