This Doesn't Work.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." — Thomas A. Edison ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How often do we meet with a small “failure” and conclude that the whole project is a failure? When new things are born (such as a light bulb…) there are going to be endeavors that produce the desired result and endeavors that do not. A “failed” attempt does not mean that the whole project is a failure. It simply means that you now know that that way does not work, and so now you may move on to a new approach. Truly, the failed attempt is actually progress, because you now free to move on to a new attempt, which may just work this time! None of us start with a base of knowledge that makes us know the correct thing to do the first time in every situation. We have to learn what works and what does not. Don’t dis the process; trust it to work valuable learning in you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above quote and thoughts gave me some other questions. Do you ever ponder why we appraise things the way we do? Is it influence from our peers, our families, our reading, which molds us into the particular type of information processors that we become? Why do we sometimes shy away from a new approach? The mistake that is commonly made when re-evaluating what we have long thought about a topic is we think that by critically considering an old idea we are trashing it. No – consider the old idea, consider the new one, and come to the correct conclusion. The old idea might be the best one after all, but then again, the new may be true instead. New for new’s sake is not sound reasoning, and neither is tradition for tradition’s sake (although often there are very good reasons that a tradition has been held to for so long!) – so make it a habit to think critically about each idea and conclude which is the right one based not upon whether it is new or old, but upon whether it is the truth.