Now try it

Even if it feels like we can’t get where we want to be, there’s probably a way. And the margin of error may not be as severe as we think. (NASA photo)

When the brilliant Jennifer Acker first took over as director of Eclectic Music, I probably did a lot of annoying things I wasn’t even aware of.

However, one thing I was aware of and had to really try to tamp down was a tendency to meet any idea with, “Yeah, we tried that back in [year] and it didn’t work.”

I had to get my head around two things:

One, maybe Jen could accomplish something I couldn’t; and

Two, maybe now we had the resources to be successful with something that had once failed.

My experience had value, but only to a point. My assessment of a given proposal might be based in a reality that no longer existed. My advice or caution had to take that context into account.

As I’ve learned to let go of the past, I can make a greater contribution to the future — often, by simply standing back and supporting my team as they do their thing.

Naturally, this same principle applies elsewhere. All the time, people tell me about things that they tried and failed at, whether in business, academic subjects, or attempted hobbies.

And it’s the same thing: They are grounded in a story from the past — maybe something that happened decades ago — that is still their present reality.

If we find ourselves in this situation, we might note that our circumstances have changed since our failure occurred.

Maybe we’ve learned new skills since then.

Perhaps we have people to help us.

Maybe we can simply learn from our past failure and try again.

When we’re setting up hardware or software, we constantly make little tweaks to see what will happen. It’s all improvisation and experimentation. “Is it working now?” [A cable is plugged in.] “How about now?” [A switch is toggled.] “Okay, now try it.” We keep tinkering until we get the results we’re looking for.

We can do this elsewhere in life. Instead of giving up (“Yeah, I tried drawing but I was no good at it,”) we can keep trying, seeking the resources and support that will help us to succeed.

Even if we haven’t gained much in the way of material resources, perhaps we have additional inner resources. We might recognize the growth of certain helpful qualities — fresh patience, a higher frustration tolerance, a greater ability to take ourselves less seriously — that may have developed since the last time we tried and failed.

You may roll your eyes at my Pollyanna-like belief in everyone’s capacity for growth, but the reason I’m hammering this point so hard is that I often see children who don’t believe they will be able to develop the ability to do something, based on a couple of initial lackluster attempts. That’s what tells me that for just about all of us, the story we have about being no good at something is simply a story — it’s not an inescapable reality. Things can change, and we can change.

After twentysomething years of cell phones, we still have faith in their mysterious powers. “You can’t hear me? Okay, let me take two steps to window. How about now? Hmm, okay, let me unplug my headset and plug it back in. How about now?” The tweaks and pivots and refreshes we make to the projects we care most about may take more time and complexity to perform, but they can be done in the same spirit and with the same faith in our ability to ultimately prevail.

So you tried and failed at the thing before. Okay. Now try it.