Here’s a quick breakdown of the article:
Call it evolution, call it whatever you want—humans are not
wired to learn from success. In fact,
success hinders learning.
1. When
we succeed we make false assumptions as to why.
2. We
also become overconfident, believing we don’t need to change.
3. We
only ask ‘why’ when we fail. We don’t
investigate good performance.
Test it out—think of a major success. Compare that with a catastrophic
failure. Wasn’t it the failure that
prompted soul-searing, heart-wrenching introspection? Success feels great and you might have thrown
a party; only failure hurts enough to cause you to change (pity parties can be
worthwhile, however).
‘Learning is the
process of updating our theories’(72).
- If we don’t have a reason to update, we won’t. When we succeed, there is no reason to update theories.
- When we fail, we either have to revise our theories or be deemed morons (My wording not theirs--isn’t there some saying about doing the same things and expecting different results . . .).
Be assured, we don’t have to fail, it’s just so much easier
to learn when we do. Interested in
learning while minimizing failure?
- Examine success.
- Institute a system of project reviews.
- Consciously experiment. What is experiment if not a process of testing, breaking and revising hypotheses?
So, I choose to rejoice in this month’s failures!
- I am learning more than I ever had.
- I’ve updated more theories than I knew I even had.
- I have asked ‘why’ countless times.
Even better, I think I’ll make a point of failing my way
through March. Now, what can I find to
experiment on?
