You say when it's failure (falling short) and when it's a do-over!
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Question: When might failure curtail creativity and when might it encourage imagination and tenacity?
To answer this profound question I turn to none other than Wile E. Coyote the quintessentially resilient cartoon character who pursues Road Runner with ludicrous gizmos purchased from a fictional mail-order company called ACME. Sure, he may look like he falls short of his goal but never in the same way twice. He keeps coming up with wild and crazy ways to catch Road Runner even when the ACME contraptions backfire. Royally!
That he doesn’t catch Road Runner isn’t the point. The point is he persists.
Do we really want Coyote to catch Road Runner? No. It’s why we watch. What will he do next?
Failure curtails creativity when we or someone else says it does. But! Failure encourages imagination and tenacity when we believe it does because that’s its job.
Practical Tip: Never underestimate the power of your persistent efforts. If someone else calls them failures, you call them by their true name: Do-Overs!***
*** do-over noun
\ ˈdü-ˌō-vər
\ plural do-overs
Definition of do-over: a new attempt or opportunity to do something after a previous attempt has been unsuccessful or unsatisfactory Art, unlike life, permits do-overs: the illusion that one can get things right with craft and persistence.— Kahn Man
As for his pitch, Keaton's first try was in the dirt. He requested a do-over and fired one right down the middle.— Steve Rushin
First Known Use of do-over: 1912, in the meaning defined above
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