What if we called failures, experiments? Could we even do that every time?
I'd love to think of my cooking attempts as experiments instead of failures...and I guess they are. Most times I have actually COOKED something, I just view it as a failure because it doesn't taste the way I'd like or the way the recipe creator intended.
The deal? The sales call? Could they be experiments instead of failures?
The merger? The analysis? Could we call those experiments instead of failures?
I do struggle a little bit here as more often, I probably say things "weren't successful" (like the cooking) versus explicitly saying they were a "failure". I wouldn't have said the financial analysis was a failure....I would have just said it wasn't what we wanted or wasn't successful (or accurate).
Is this how my mind tricks me? "I don't use the word failure so I don't put myself, my team, or whoever else down. I don't ever say I've failed..."
Ok. Great, you TECHNICALLY use the word "fail" or "failure" and yet, saying something "wasn't successful" or "right" isn't actually positive or providing grace, is it? Don't think so...
So what if you started viewing more of what you and your team are up to as experiments? What if you said you were experimenting with how to give a great presentation? Or how to set and hold boundaries? What if your team were experimenting with how best to communicate with you? What would be available to you? To them?
