The Freedom to Fail

Recently, my experience introducing Hive to complete strangers and people who are new to this technology is a topic of my own reflection.

I always learn something by either doing, failing and from other’s point of view and stories. In this particular reflection, the journey of new people learning about Hive and failing in the process was quite insightful. Culturally, where I grow up we’re taught to strive for perfection, to never make mistakes and to never fail. We’re taught to search for saver high paying jobs that would give us a lot of safety net. At first, I find it very odd that people are afraid to make mistakes because I would assumed everyone was like myself, just a goof with a mindset of do or die trying. The thing is, some people are still confined of that cultural beliefs and haven’t seen a way out. I am not talking more specific about the people I got to know recently but it’s the same situation happening all around me that I got to be exposed of these past few weeks.

Among all those, the easier example would be, during this whole process of onboarding, I’ve heard thing like “ I am afraid of making mistakes” but also obvious mistakes from people who didn’t follow the guidelines we sent. The latter sometimes frustrates me as we made the guideline as carefully as possible ensuring everyone is able to sign up by themselves

I do appreciate those who went out of their way and making it work. They aren’t even afraid of trying and after all, I was their safety net, which means I’ll help them if they have technical issues especially during the sign up process or when creation tickets aren’t available. Some people were able to asses this safety net option and they made it through even when they fail.

I’ve given people freedom to learn, fail, and try again. I’ve opened room for them to ask and do it again. and I realized this was the thing that needed to foster in our culture. It’s the freedom to learn, fail and try again without treating it as its the end of the world. As much as I am aware of different scenarios could play, one in particular that sparked my interest is certainly the willingness to do it all again after a failure.

One of the people who signed up, constantly made mistakes. The person felt frustrated left and right but they didn’t stop trying. They wanted to get to know how it works and what was wrong. In the end, they made it through the whole process. This was all new to them and for me, placing myself as their helper, all I am doing was being compassionate because this technology is new to them. Some compassion goes a long way and that also helps these people adjusting with new environment and is willing to learn more. To foster this environment will help to show that there’s a room to grow and to be better but also ensuring no mistake is done twice.

At one point in my life, I’ve seen the world as an unforgiving place. It was made very clear that I should never fail. The thing is, I failed more than I could have ever imagined. I was never taught to learn how to process it all. I was never told that it was OK to fail because the moment I fail, I would be harshly judged, compared to and there never was a way out of that. The thing is, once I distanced myself culturally, there is a way out. There is a way out of the failure and that’s how I approach learning these days.

I’ve internalized it now rather than just saying it out loud. I am really OK and I’ll try it again if I fail.If When I make mistakes, receive criticism, I didn't stop trying like I used to and one of the joys in my life recently is simply internalizing the freedom to fail.

Although in the past, I was just able to say it but now, it’s ingrained to me that for a thing that matter be it a new skill, new experience, business ventures, anything of value, I am not afraid to fail. It's really do or die trying.