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Roger Federer, the greatest tennis player of his generation, once told a group of graduates that even though he had won 80 per cent of the singles matches in his career, he had only won 54 per cent of the points in those matches. “In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play.”
As a motivational email at 8am on a Monday morning this seems a surprising start but to succeed we must accept ongoing failure. Are you failing? Good! It is a sign you have a goal. So how do we consistently create and overcome the regular background radiation of failure? Those obstacles that chip away at your resolve – or stop us in our tracks after the more rare explosive blasts.
Take Dead Aim
Beyond back-up plans, perhaps the first thing to ask is: are you putting your energy into what really matters to you?
Define your goal clearly. If money and time weren’t an issue, what would you want to do? Despite impediments, do you still want this end goal, and if so, how could you take a step forward after the set back?
Then do a dangerous thing: put pen to paper. You want to create ten pictures of ten castles? Or one excellent image of a grandparent or child? Or to exhibit that personal project in the next year or publish your work in a magazine? Make it official by writing it down.
Failure, My Life Coach
One day in my childhood, sitting on a Blackpool pier, my mum agreed that I could take a flight in a helicopter. We soared over the famous tower and crowds below. The flight was exhilarating, and I took photos of everything on my little camera. It was also expensive, so this was my one chance to get some good shots. On landing, fizzing with adrenaline, I checked to see how many pictures I had taken. The counter was at zero. I hadn’t loaded the film correctly. I haven’t done that since.
More recently, while transferring a productive month’s worth of celebrity portraits and reportage shots to a new editing program, I managed to delete all the images.
These failures of diligence offer vital lessons.
Single and Multi-Point Failures
In aviation, pilots plan for single- and multi-point aircraft failures. On take-off, they are ready to safely take off even if one engine fails and there is a total loss of visibility. Pilots practice continuously for these failures and have multiple back-up plans.
Whereas if one engine goes in a drone, the whole thing comes down, as I learned in Ethiopia. The drone I was flying fell from only 10 feet while I was doing safety checks, snapping the camera off. Luckily, I had planned for mishaps: I had a back-up drone, which enabled me to document the majority of the church forests I had planned to photograph.
If failing is inevitable, how can we plan for it?
Five Ways to Fail Successfully.
Fail at the right things. Failure is sometimes defined as being successful at the wrong things. Obstacles offers a second or third chance to check our ambition and push on. Are you aiming at something that matters to you?
List the possible points of failure. Then plan for how you will overcome these obstacles or pick yourself up after them to carry on towards success. Be prepared when things go wrong, they will.
Stay anchored to the source. When the challenges hit, the test begins, where will we place our confidence? Failure tests our resolve and whether we really want or need the thing. On that day we will need help, good collaborators, inspiration, rest and faith to help us overcome.
Keep chipping away. To consistently create requires overcoming relentless failure. Sometimes they are dramatic set backs but mostly they are small tedious tests. In those moments, remember the goal and keep chipping away at the task in hand.
Remember past success. Perversely, the obstacles we face can eventually become the thrill. Like a surfer paddles out through ever increasing waves to the calm water behind. They then harness the power of the waves for the thrill of the ride.