Here is some insight from James Dyson, the inventor of the amazing Dyson Vacuum.

In Fast Company, He advocates doing things the wrong way.

I made 5127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it
right. There were 5126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s
how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure. I’ve always
thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures
they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of
failures to get there is probably more creative…

We’re taught
to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that
other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a
failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty,
dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely
different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a
bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off.

It makes you realize that so much of our world view is shaped on “winning.”  The war in Iraq, the war on terror, the war on drugs.   You wage war to win.   War has a winner and loser.   Are we setting ourselves up to be losers?

The same is true for education.   We all have our childhood horror stories about the way our teachers mishandled situations leaving us slightly jaded.   We all have studied for tests, did our best, but come up short and lost.   It is a feeling that leaves you wrecked.    It wasn’t the actual losing that hurt, it was the implication.   In school, you lost credibility, you lost your ranking, you might be downgraded amongst your peers…or your mentors might see you as a loser.

Despite the same path to success, we don’t give enough attention to the lessons that Thomas Edison taught us about the importance of failure.   Although, after just a short time working with Grockit, I don’t need to use the ugly word failure.   I have seen the light.  I have been enlightened to what this really is….

This is called Learning. 

Failing and working to first understand the failure, and then to secondly correct the mistake all in the pursuit of learning.   

We need to stop being afraid of failure.   It is at times the first step in Learning.   It is an indicator and guide for “Grok-ing something.”   

Allow yourself a chance to fail, it feels good.  It reminds you that you are human…and that what makes humans so damn special is our desire to learn, improve… and one day walk on the moon…(again.)   

(Here is a personal note:) 
After watching my beloved Pistons win the Championship in 2004, I watched them come close for 2 straight years…both failing to win the coveted prize.   The mistakes they made over two years have become a roadmap this season.   It is exciting to watch this team play so well together knowing that this cohesion is because of a shared philosophy to learn from prior mistakes.   I catch myself waiting for a mistake to be committed, the way they did last year — and I am pleasantly surprised every time.    Do you think they liked losing?  Do you think they liked swallowing the reality that they were talented enough to win, but not organized enough to win?   They could have quit, they could have stopped caring.  Hell, even Ben Wallace left because I think he got bored, lost faith, didn’t want to learn from mistakes in the past, but instead thought a change of scenery might make it all better.    I hope he enjoys his new view, because I think that with this road map which is landmarked with failure the Pistons will be sending him packing in a few short games.