Episode 18: Failing On The Shoulders Of Giants

There’s an old metaphor, made famous by Sir Isaac Newton, about making scientific progress by adding to the knowledge already discovered by those who came before us. You’ve probably heard it before: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” 

This holds true for intellectual and artistic pursuits, and in my experience, it holds true for failure, as well.

“Learn from somebody else’s mistakes” is probably a familiar concept, and deep down, the motivation is pretty primal and instinctive: if we learn from somebody else’s mistakes, we can protect ourselves from failure, and ultimately, protect ourselves from embarrassment.

But over the past few years, I’ve taken a much more proactive approach to failure - failing boldly and often, while trying to learn as much as I can about myself and my craft along the way. I no longer look at “second-hand failure wisdom” as a way to avoid my own failure - on the contrary, I look at it as an opportunity to make brand new mistakes and fail at things that other people haven’t tried yet. This podcast is a perfect example, blending a short-form music business podcast with guided self-reflection exercises. I mean, why make all the same mistakes as everyone else, when I can spend my time learning from new ones?

I may even be so bold as to adapt the Sir Newton’s quote: “If I have seen further, it is by failing on the shoulders of giants.”

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Intro music: “Gingerly” (instrumental) by Surname. Mixed by yours truly. 

Focus music by Pink Coyote. 

Outro music: “Futurism” (instrumental) by mrnoname. Produced and mixed by yours truly.

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 18 of Thanks For Thinking, the music business podcast focusing on self-reflection and proactivity for thoughtful music production professionals.

I’m your host, Carl Bahner.

Today’s topic: Failing On The Shoulders Of Giants

There’s an old metaphor, made famous by Sir Isaac Newton, about making scientific progress by adding to the knowledge already discovered by those who came before us. You’ve probably heard it before: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” 

This holds true for intellectual and artistic pursuits, and in my experience, it holds true for failure, as well.

“Learn from somebody else’s mistakes” is probably a familiar concept, and deep down, the motivation is pretty primal and instinctive: if we learn from somebody else’s mistakes, we can protect ourselves from failure, and ultimately, protect ourselves from embarrassment.

But over the past few years, I’ve taken a much more proactive approach to failure - failing boldly and often, while trying to learn as much as I can about myself and my craft along the way. I no longer look at “second-hand failure wisdom” as a way to avoid my own failure - on the contrary, I look at it as an opportunity to make brand new mistakes and fail at things that other people haven’t tried yet. This podcast is a perfect example, blending a short-form music business podcast with guided self-reflection exercises. I mean, why make all the same mistakes as everyone else, when I can spend time learning from new ones?

I may even be so bold as to adapt Sir Newton’s quote: “If I have seen further, it is by failing on the shoulders of giants.”

Find a comfortable spot without distractions. I’d like you to take the next few moments to think about times in your career that you’ve learned from somebody else’s mistakes.

Today’s reflection question is: what are some career pursuits I’ve always wanted to try, but never attempted due to fear of failure or embarrassment?

They could be large pursuits like owning your own production company or writing a book. Or they could be small pursuits like sending your first cold outreach message or recording your first YouTube video. 

There are no objectively right or wrong answers. But the important thing is that you’re honest with yourself about the times when you could have tried something totally new, but in hindsight, you realize that fear of failure stopped you.

Don’t worry about setting a timer - when the music stops, we’ll move on to today’s action item.

So once again, today’s reflection question is:  what are some career pursuits I’ve always wanted to try, but never attempted due to fear of failure or embarrassment?

Alright, time to get started. I’ll be back in a few minutes.

~~~~~

If you need more time, hit pause and come back when you’re ready.

For today’s action item, all you’ll need is a word processor or a pen and paper.

Today’s action item is: write down five career mistakes that you’ve seen peers make, and next to each example, write down a bold, new way you could attempt to achieve what they failed to achieve in that process.

Once again, today’s action item is: write down five career mistakes that you’ve seen peers make, and next to each example, write down a bold, new way you could attempt to achieve what they failed to achieve in that process.

I’ll be back in a few minutes.

~~~~~

If you need more time, hit pause and come back when you’re ready.

It’s normal to have a love/hate relationship with failure. As much as I want to be enthusiastic about the endless learning opportunities provided by failure, it’s not always easy. Sometimes, it’s absolutely terrifying to push yourself way beyond your comfort zone - but when you can learn from the mistakes made by your friends, peers, and trusted mentors, you can find comfort in knowing that your brand new failures will be adding to the strong foundation of knowledge, experience, and wisdom accumulated by everyone that’s come before you.