I’ve been thinking a great deal about work lately. I hope not too much, at least not at the expense of trying to enjoy summer and some sense of frivolity. But I’ve learned a few things lately.
I use the verb “learned” but probably should use “realized.” It’s been one of those introspective, hard thinking periods of life where you try to tie up loose strands and come to clarity. Something came to me last week: There’s nothing worse for someone who wants to work hard and contribute than not having access to failure.
This might not be a natural thought, but I’m growing to recognize its significance. It is one thing to review your body of work and list off successes. “This last month I accomplished…” Certainly this thought process can be helpful to sustaining your own energy and sharing with your coworkers (or boss!) why you matter to an organization.
But it only tells half the story.
To really be engaged in work and in the mission of an organization, I think you need the freedom to fail. Lacking concrete goals, outcomes, and lofty plans, it’s too easy to operate in the nebulous area of “just getting your work done.” For some, that is probably good enough. But not for all styles of people.
For me, I need challenges large enough and significant enough where real, hands down, knock out failure is a very real option. I need the tension of not reaching a benchmark. I bet many of you are the same.
I think I’ve known this about myself for a long time, but it was only recently that I vocalized the taxation on personal energy that comes if you work in a way where failure isn’t a very real presence. The challenge then is in finding that space where you are engaged and invested in something that has enough personal and professional meaning to you to be willing to risk failure. Minus that, and many of us won’t be plugged in the way we should be.
This reminds me of a poem I used to share with my ninth graders during their first week of class in the high school. I’ll post it here. I’d love to hear your interpretations. I’ll share a few closing thoughts on it later this week.
IT’S POETRY TIME!
George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me —
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire —
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Edgar Lee Masters
So go forth and fail! Stay in touch out there.
Post new comment