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Dear Adam, could you teem and you make a complete LCD monochromatic that used in simple calculators with 7 segments using liquid cristal and flexible printed circuits?
As a computer programmer, I can definitely say that nothing is more terrifying than having code work the first time. You feel like the universe is planning some terrible punishment to even things out :-).
I work in the construction industry, which is typically a very toxic work environment. I'm usually a very good employee, but do make mistakes. Whenever I make a mistake I own it right away like Adam is talking about. Often the person repremanding me (boss, customer, general contractor, etc.) will ask me "why did you do that?" and I'll usually say something like "I have made many mistakes in life, and this was one of them" or "I am a flawed human being, and I just made a judgement error". Its funny because they never expect that type of upfront admission; most people will try to justify their poor decisions. Once you own it, it just kind of shuts down the conversation, and the other person always calms down and just accepts that it happened, instead of a screaming match over who won't admit their fault. Really important life lesson.
when i was an Apprentice the machine shop foreman said ' you will screw things up , that's fine as long as you admit it & learn from your screw up ' .. 30 years later thats still how i live life
A motto and forum tag line I have is "The difference between being smart and being wise. Being smart is learning from your mistakes. Being wise is learning from the mistakes of others. My life has given many others the chance to be wise."
Failure isn’t a state, but an event. What is most important is being able to accept that it happened, understand what caused the mistake without self judgment, and remember the lesson so that next time isn’t like the last time.
More like failure is the sum total of several events. Decomposing (accepting) failure, makes us better, because next time, we pluck the pesky event that lead to failure, and do better, succeed.
Your story about how you let your friend down as an art director on one of his films/stage productions helped me through some of my past failures. Just knowing you fucked up so bad you lost a friend (and still managed to be a success) soothes my anxiety whenever I think about them.
I was a software engineer for 30 years. I got used to being wrong about something nearly every day -- up to the day I retired. By that point, it was mostly new or minor stuff. But I kept learning. And I still dabble in it for my own purposes, but not nearly as much. And I'm still making mistakes and learning from it.
"I learned the most from the people who were honest with me about their failures" THAAAT gives me some great perspective on why I learn more from my mom than from my dad - when the ability to discuss past mistakes is not present, there's this sort of performance anxiety around someone who's supposed to /support/ you, not /judge/ you; since they've created a false narrative where mistakes have not happened to them. It doesn't feel like a relationship of equals. I don't feel comfortable if there's not that off-hand "oh yeah, this part is hard, I had to study for ages to get it" stress de-escalation.
Thank you for this video. My husband is a model maker and I feel like I understand his frustration and his tendency to take failure so personally, a hell of alot better now.
“There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failure.” I was a Disney character animator for 30 years. I had the good fortune and honor of working with Glen Keane on numerous films. I stood over his shoulder countless times, watching him draw. He is a giant of the industry; his animation and draftsmanship is legendary. During most of those sessions I’d see him get a drawing well underway, then he’d stop and say “nope”, pull the drawing off his board, toss it on the floor, pull out a fresh sheet of paper and start again. When he’d finished the scene, the amount of drawings on the floor were as numerous as the amount of finished drawings in the scene. He was unfazed. For him, all those “failures” on the floor were just part of the process.
Adam, I don't know how often or if you read the comments here, but I just want to say thank you. My son (adopted in February) and I watched this video yesterday after a difficult day of remote learning. I saw the title and thought it might be helpful for him as he struggles with failures, staying organized and owning mistakes. When you were talking about your dust up with your son and told him to listen and repeat your mantra of "My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up" I think that might have stuck with my son. He wrote it down and thought about it a bit. Here's hoping your words inspired him...thanks again!
I have been struggling at work recently, feeling as though I don't belong or am not good enough. Adam, and tested crew, thank you for this video! I really needed to hear this today!
"There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failure." Man I needed to hear that. I just printed that out and stuck it to my monitor so I don't forget.
I've been doing System Administration for 15+ years and the understanding is that anyone who hasn't caused a major foul up is either lying or so junior they've never touched anything important. Especially in IT there are random variables you can't account for no matter how hard you try and how you handle running into one of them is what defines you in your job.
In my work life, I live by the ideology of owning your mistakes immediately and completely. It baffles a lot of people but I can always learn and move forward with more confidence immediately. It's important but not many (any) people understand it.
"Sharing the highs and the lows" that's why I watch your videos your so open about things it's great to not only watch but listen to as well, true inspiration "thank you"
I think Mythbusters is what inspired me to create my own little motto of life: “Mistakes exist, so you can learn from them.” I’ve learned so much from your goof ups and mistakes, than my victories. If you fail? Let the negativity pass, slap your own face silly, get yourself up, LEARN from your own mistakes, and move forward. Gosh darn it, I love this show too much! 😅
I found this video (and this whole series about experiencing difficulties and failures while making) to be very self-affirming. I was blessed to be raised by a dude (a whole village really) who was all about making mistakes and learning from them. I know this isn't the way everyone thinks though. I've had coworkers come down on me for pointing out mistakes in front of supervisors, and those same supervisors come down on me for coming to them and saying 'I made a mistake'. I know this isn't the way to live though. 'My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up.' This is the way.
I’m not a maker but I watch every video with Adam. Such amazing perspectives and lessons I end up using in my daily life as a 20yr old student of life! I can’t thank you enough for these videos!!
This topic makes me think of my dad a lot. He had a saying that "The only difference between a newby and a pro is that the pro knows how to either fix his screw up or knows when to leave it alone and do something else for a while." He was a body man and learned how to do many things over the years to the point that he could tell you if something was wrong, how it got that way, and how to fix it even if he had never had the issue before. It is taking the issue and seeing what is wrong and using your experience to find a way around the issue. It might not come fast but it can come over time if you let it. He has been one of the only people in my life that has looked at physical failure, not as a serious issue, but as a learning experience. He would let me screw up at a non serious issue to then teach me why it happened and how to avoid it in the future. If it was a serious issue he would stop me before it got too far and show me what could happen. Failure is not something that we should avoid, unless it can harm or kill, it is something we should learn from. He would laugh and bring up about Edison saying he had not found the way to make a light bulb, but he had found how ever many ways not to make one.
If there are two things that I have learned through life and my therapist it is these two things Perfection is unattainable excellence is not. Mistakes aren’t mistakes if you learn from them.
I just spent my morning watching these questions videos and honestly Adam could stich clips together and make an entire segment on life advice. He's talking failure, he's talking success, he's even talking parenting. I've never felt so..thoughtful at 730am. Great wisdom.
A lot of the questions being asked to Adam seems to me like they haven’t read his book. They should, he completely describes his failures and the processes that he goes through every time. I’ll always remember watching him on stage answering a question about failure and his story about thrying to build an ATM vestibule (yes I’ve seen that friends episode) though this was for his student friend who was directing a theatre piece and he failed, he didn’t imagine how much time he didn’t have and even though he thought he had time he ran out of it towards the end and failed. That is the biggest story I’ll always remember of Adam failing.
Something that you said in the Compact Compact episode that has always stuck with me; and saved me a lot of heartache and stress and frustration; was what you wrote on the semi trailers: Failure is always an option. Because failure is always an option; might not be the option you want, but it’s still an option. It’s not a bad one or one you should do everything you can to avoid; but you shouldn’t seek it out. If it happens it happens, but learn from it and try again.
I've found over my years on earth, stubbornness is way more important than talent or skill. The later 2 come naturally, but to obtain that drive that makes you push through mistakes/failures rarely comes naturally to most people. Anyone who asks me about art or playing an instrument gets the same talk from me. You will most likely suck, maybe even for a good while. What makes most people good at a skill is being too stubborn to give up and just keep throwing things at the wall until they stick. Drive/determination are way more important than any other force/skill within the realm of being creative. Eventually, you will suck less and never, NEVER, come to a point where you think you can't learn something new. I've noticed that most who actually stick with stuff through the tough times often end up making the best creations. Never give up, never surrender!
Also, taking a break and finding something else to do while you ponder a problem often helps tremendously. Usually, a little time away from a frustrating situation is all it takes to get over the hump. I can't count how many times I was trying to learn a new song or write new music, hit a brick wall and took a break for a day, came back and it was like I magically breezed through whatever was giving me a problem.
Leonard French has occasion to share the phrase "If you are going to have to eat crow, it's better to eat it whilst it is fresh and tender." Owning screw ups, to oneself most of all, is so important and so healthy and we should encourage young people to do it by admitting to our own. I appreciate it must be very difficult for parents who are aware they need their kids to retain a certain level of respect for them in order to be able to shape their development, but I am convinced that young people have more respect for the adults they can see themselves in, and that means being fallible. "My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up" may be the single piece of advice I would have most benefitted from as a kid, and despite being fourty-hmphenunph years old, I shall take it to heart now!
Problem solving is often confused with creativity. In industry problem solving is the correct description. As an artist problem solving is a facet of creativity.
I really like Adam’s last point on owning up to your mistakes. A while ago I realized that I always either denied or minimized accusations made against me. I also noticed this behavior in others and I committed myself to always take responsibility for my shortcomings. Since then I have had less arguments with others and I have been able to identify and stop doing certain repeated problematic behaviors.
I have never allowed my son to apologize with 'but'... "I'm sorry, but..." The 3rd word negates the first 2. Instead, I have taught him to say "I'm sorry. I will try to do better." There's no promise that you won't fail again, or fail worse, but there is responsibility and thought and hopefully genuine effort.
I needed to hear it. I just came back from my job where I was being trained for a higher position in my workplace. Needless to say, I made few mistakes and I feel horrible about that. Seing this video helped me to calm down and to cope with my current emotions. "There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failing" - Adam Savage. I love this sentence! I hope to keep it in my mind for the rest of my life. Both for the mistakes I am going to make and for the mistakes others are going to make while working under me.
Light bulb moment: Things that don’t work versus things that don’t work the way YOU want them to. Geez. I’m 54 and never thought if it that way. Thanks Adam.
Adam, I have said for years I would rather go down in flames with the truth, then hold onto a lie for any length of time. Admit it, deal with it, get it over with, and get on with your day.
I'm happy to hear this topic of failure and how you learn more from it. I actually did an paper in my college recently about two of life's greatest teachers, pain and failure, they will teach you so much more than pleasure and success ever will, the main reason being is as humans we are not perfect which in itself is perfect, to be imperfect means that you can become better, to be perfect means that there is no need for improvement which is a rather ignorant thought.
The best advice my mom ever gave me " Athletes make millions of dollars every year and fail to be perfect. Why am I expected to be perfect for a fraction of the money?" It is strange that the less people are paid the more perfection people expect. Now, I just fight my need to be perfect and tell the world to adjust its expectation or pay me a LOT more money.
The power of "I made a mistake and I'm sorry" is the least acknowledged power in the world. You have defused the situation, acknowledged the error, taken ownership of the problem, taken ownership of the learning, and admitted humanity. Not only are people less willing to punish you, they are more willing to help you get padt this and get better to avoid it happening (exactly the same way) again.
I worked as a machinist for many years, the parts (castnings) I machined cost (my employer) thousands of dollars. One thing that helped me deal with 'failure' was doing the best I could possibly do given the time and constraints I was given...and having some sort of Zen was an absolute.
I used to be real quick to admit when I would mess something up but I always had a hard time being blamed for something that I didn't directly do. An example would be if my crew would get chewed out for something going wrong but it was one of the other guys who made the screw up. The real lesson to learn is to just adapt and keep going. Don't waste time arguing or blaming each other. That not only looks bad but it gets you nowhere. Sometimes I just have to take responsibility as a crew member no matter if it was me who did it or not. Let's figure out a way to correct the issue and move on. Thanks for the great vids.
I do the exact same thing. Every time I'm making something, my goal for the day is usually to get a project to the point that I can paint it at the end of the day so it can dry all night. I usually get to the point that I'm rushing and end up with a run in the paint or something.
What is difficult about failure, despite how people say how you learn when you fail; which I agree with, is how systems punish failure. You fail a class, you have to take it again, pay the fee's, spend the time, miss internships and all that. You fail at work, you probably will get fired. The punishment also associated with the result of failure is the thing I think that makes people avoid failure.
Adam, I feel ya. Beginning of all of my new jobs, I find myself saying "what the heck am I doing here?" But I needed to take it one day at a time. Now folks are asking me for advice.
I had a personal victory the other day. Instead of getting mad when I accidently drilled to deep and put a small hole through to the hero side on the main face of a wood project I was working on, I just took a breath, and said "they invented wood filler for a reason" and I carried on. Didn't get mad or discouraged at an incredibly minor issue since I made a mistake on the show side. Moved on and it turned out to be a really nice mental thing.
I work in a different space than Adam (I build mathematical models in Excel). Within my team, I am considered the top at quality control ("QC"). Part of my success in that role is due to my ability to recognize common mistakes. About half the mistakes that I pick up in QC are ones that I have previously made. And one of the reasons that I make "fewer mistakes" than my peers is due to my ability to self-QC my own work. Failure happens. Successful teams are built to accommodate and correct for failures.
I think hearing you say" failure is always an option " as a kid made me far far more capable of learning ,cheers :) I don't feel I'm incapable of any skill on earth that I have any interest in because failure is always an option ,not only an option it's required to learn properly sometimes, In my opinion the basis of real intelligence is the ability to learn from your failures and continue going /learning /advancing. Keep up the great content Adam.
@@erinmcdonald7781 or like.. the Peter Principle.. "Employees/Managers are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent." .. Lol.
Hi Adam, I thought you might be interested to know that, while imposter syndrome is pretty common across the spectrum, people with ADHD, which you've self-diagnosed in the past, are more prone to the syndrome and more crippling cases of it. I've experienced this personally, and it's been a big hurdle for me to overcome. Glad you found a way to combat it!
Only the narcissists will dislike this video because they will never admit their own failure 😂 after all it’s always someone else’s fault...... nice video Adam & great mantra for life
I feel like all of society tells us to never admit our failures, it is annoying to only just be learning to own them immediately 10 years into my career.
Failure is inevitable if you are pushing yourself beyond your limits. This is essential to growth. In F1 drivers must live on the limit to compete. In order to find the limit they have to go over the limit. This is very dangerous. We must cross those lines in order to find optimum. Hence failure is inevitable. I’m an artist not a maker. I must challenge my limits at all times in order to be relevant. For the most part death is not a consequence of going over the limit but it can still be dangerous psychologically
Adam talking about his need to get stuff done, and the rush that he gets from the last screw, the last touch of paint, and how he wants that all the time....with that fraction of the Ecto-1 sitting there in the frame.... Aside from the $ aspect, I don't think I would be able to wait a year or more to be able to finish a project.
When I think about things not working the way I want them to I think of sitting in a train which gets delayed. There is no way to influence the cause or the effect, so it is pointless to think about it in any way. When I think about failure I think about SpaceX. Their entire philosophy revolves around failing as much as possible, because every failure teaches important lessons and gets them closer to perfection.
Alright, real specific, but I think that when Adam is referring to the carburetor he's referring to Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny Vinny: "See, the first thing you do is take the carburetor off the manifold. But suppose you skip the first step and try to rebuild the carb while it's still on the manifold? And then let's say while you're replacing a jet, you accidentally drop the jet and it goes down the carb, rolls down the manifold and into the head? You're fucked. You just learned the hard way that you're supposed to remove the carburetor first." I love My Cousin Vinny...
Thanks for the questions and thank you for the answers. Not a maker like everyone here; just an IT engineer. I get that exact same feeling on almost all of my projects. Biggest problem for me is when I screw up I'm not the only one who knows. Usually have 50+ grumpy users calling in disgust of my screw up.
I seem to do better work if I'm not all scared about messing things up. I don't want to screw up but it's nice to know that when I do it'll be ok. Some jobs are super stressful because of being afraid to do one thing wrong. That's usually when things do start to go bad.
Far too often the word "failure" is used when "mistake" should be used. Everyone makes mistakes. That's how we learn, from our own mistakes and those of others. Failures are definitive. Failures are when something goes so terribly wrong that there's no going back, and it's all because of you. Not because you didn't know better, but because you DID know better, but chose to ignore. Or because you took on something that was WAY beyond your capabilities. If it's something you CAN "fix" or recover from, it's only a failure when you give up completely. You don't learn from failures. You learn from mistakes! Those who can't make mistakes can't make anything.
my grandfather a very shall we say grass roots type of person told me when i was helping him in his shop. Shit happens been happening for thousands of years. you can either step in it or walk around it. if you step in it you'll learn to walk around it its that simple. of course i was 5 at the time and didn't realize what he was saying but now that i'm older i get what he was saying.
This video promoted me to do another search for the classic Scott Beach (Committee in SF) treatise on "Failure 101." This time I succeeded (see what I did there) in finding an LP with that cut on it. I will report back once it arrives.
I figured out a long time ago that admitting a screw up as soon as possible usually makes things go way smoother with the other people involved in the process of whatever job you are doing. I also found that when I did something I could get into trouble for, or that might upset someone else, I just told on myself. Every supervisor I have ever had since I started doing that has appreciated my honesty, and that made them trust me more, and ended up making my job that much more easy because I did not have people who have never done my job, telling me how to do it. Instead, my honesty led to them seeing that I knew what I was doing, could do what needed to be done, and would listen to me when I needed their help to get a problem solved. The awareness to know when you screw up, and the honesty to admit it right off the bat, is one of the very best things anyone can have at any job their is.
Thank you for sharing man! I appreciate the honesty you put in answering. These days I believe, honesty, It’s a quality that is disappearing…. Sometimes is so difficult just to talk……Anyway. Thanks. 👍
I'm member of an DIY car repair shop. Although it is a nice place to do car repairs. It is also annoying to have to deal with the stubborn "advice" people give. Like their approach is the only way to do a car repair properly. I don't mind using someones advice if it makes sense. But sometimes I just wanna do it in my own style, because I really feel I understand the stuff and I know better. Which is sometimes seen as odd or stubborn by others.
For one thing I don't think you do need to replace a CV axle seal each time you unmount the axle. My style of removal and insertion of the half-shaft into the differential is a lot more careful that what I see other people doing. In their eyes their hypothesis gets confirmed each time they fail to replace the seal, while I know you should do the removal and insertion less rough and more careful and clean.
Ha! "Getshitdoneitis" great. Me too. Often to the point of extreme exhaustion. I can't stop! I have to finish this! Guaranteed recipe to subsequently screw it up.
"My bad. I screwed up. I'm sorry." That's a mantra I know a few folks follow, but at the same time they don't learn from it or try to change anything about what has happened or what will happen in the future. It's like some people think apologising absolves them of all consequences and they'll often get defensive and angry if you try to push them to actually do anything differently. I think the mantra really needs an extra phrase. Something like, "How can I help make things better?" or "How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?" or even just "I'll try to do better next time." It really sucks to make everyone else into the Bad Guy by apologising all the time without addressing the issues that necessitate the apology in the first place, ya know? Habitual poor choice makers shouldn't stop thinking about what choices they're making because they said an empty apology; they should look to the future and how they can get themselves and others out of those sorts of miserable situations before they happen, so that they and others can be happier. It can't be fun apologising all the time either, I'm sure.
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Hi Adam, have you evered been offered a job in the movie industry ?
Dear Adam, could you teem and you make a complete LCD monochromatic that used in simple calculators with 7 segments using liquid cristal and flexible printed circuits?
As a computer programmer, I can definitely say that nothing is more terrifying than having code work the first time. You feel like the universe is planning some terrible punishment to even things out :-).
😂😂😂😂😂
The meme---
Program works: WHAT? WHY? HOW????
Program doesn't work: WHAT? WHY? HOW????
"The problem with doing it right the first time is that no one appreciates how difficult it was."
- unknown
the problem is that you didn't learn anything by not failing
@@power2084 No. The point is that you put so much effort and planning into it that no one will ever believe it took that much work to not screw up.
@@Ziz62266 that doesn't exclude my point
@@power2084 Yes it does. What you learned is that to took a lot more work that you thought it would.
@@power2084 Make your own comment instead of being a know it all on other peoples comments.
You're insufferable.
"There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failing."
Love to have that on a sign or tshirt!
it's a great one.
Oh yeah..... that is an awesome t- shirt idea!
Adam failed! Hahahahahahaha
if you do it, you should spell it wrong.
I work in the construction industry, which is typically a very toxic work environment. I'm usually a very good employee, but do make mistakes. Whenever I make a mistake I own it right away like Adam is talking about. Often the person repremanding me (boss, customer, general contractor, etc.) will ask me "why did you do that?" and I'll usually say something like "I have made many mistakes in life, and this was one of them" or "I am a flawed human being, and I just made a judgement error". Its funny because they never expect that type of upfront admission; most people will try to justify their poor decisions. Once you own it, it just kind of shuts down the conversation, and the other person always calms down and just accepts that it happened, instead of a screaming match over who won't admit their fault.
Really important life lesson.
when i was an Apprentice the machine shop foreman said ' you will screw things up , that's fine as long as you admit it & learn from your screw up ' .. 30 years later thats still how i live life
"An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field." ~ Niels Bohr
A motto and forum tag line I have is "The difference between being smart and being wise. Being smart is learning from your mistakes. Being wise is learning from the mistakes of others. My life has given many others the chance to be wise."
Failure isn’t a state, but an event. What is most important is being able to accept that it happened, understand what caused the mistake without self judgment, and remember the lesson so that next time isn’t like the last time.
More like failure is the sum total of several events. Decomposing (accepting) failure, makes us better, because next time, we pluck the pesky event that lead to failure, and do better, succeed.
Your story about how you let your friend down as an art director on one of his films/stage productions helped me through some of my past failures. Just knowing you fucked up so bad you lost a friend (and still managed to be a success) soothes my anxiety whenever I think about them.
I was a software engineer for 30 years. I got used to being wrong about something nearly every day -- up to the day I retired. By that point, it was mostly new or minor stuff. But I kept learning. And I still dabble in it for my own purposes, but not nearly as much. And I'm still making mistakes and learning from it.
"I learned the most from the people who were honest with me about their failures" THAAAT gives me some great perspective on why I learn more from my mom than from my dad - when the ability to discuss past mistakes is not present, there's this sort of performance anxiety around someone who's supposed to /support/ you, not /judge/ you; since they've created a false narrative where mistakes have not happened to them. It doesn't feel like a relationship of equals. I don't feel comfortable if there's not that off-hand "oh yeah, this part is hard, I had to study for ages to get it" stress de-escalation.
Thank you for this video. My husband is a model maker and I feel like I understand his frustration and his tendency to take failure so personally, a hell of alot better now.
“There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failure.” I was a Disney character animator for 30 years. I had the good fortune and honor of working with Glen Keane on numerous films. I stood over his shoulder countless times, watching him draw.
He is a giant of the industry; his animation and draftsmanship is legendary. During most of those sessions I’d see him get a drawing well underway, then he’d stop and say “nope”, pull the drawing off his board, toss it on the floor, pull out a fresh sheet of paper and start again.
When he’d finished the scene, the amount of drawings on the floor were as numerous as the amount of finished drawings in the scene. He was unfazed. For him, all those “failures” on the floor were just part of the process.
Adam, I don't know how often or if you read the comments here, but I just want to say thank you. My son (adopted in February) and I watched this video yesterday after a difficult day of remote learning. I saw the title and thought it might be helpful for him as he struggles with failures, staying organized and owning mistakes. When you were talking about your dust up with your son and told him to listen and repeat your mantra of "My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up" I think that might have stuck with my son. He wrote it down and thought about it a bit. Here's hoping your words inspired him...thanks again!
I have been struggling at work recently, feeling as though I don't belong or am not good enough. Adam, and tested crew, thank you for this video! I really needed to hear this today!
Failure is part of success, failure is part of learning, failure is essential in the process of becoming a well-rounded person.
This video will be shown to my 16 yo son. YES OWN YOUR MISTAKES! -- It's so much easier to move forward thereafter! Adam you are loved! Thank you!
"There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failure." Man I needed to hear that. I just printed that out and stuck it to my monitor so I don't forget.
I've been doing System Administration for 15+ years and the understanding is that anyone who hasn't caused a major foul up is either lying or so junior they've never touched anything important. Especially in IT there are random variables you can't account for no matter how hard you try and how you handle running into one of them is what defines you in your job.
In my work life, I live by the ideology of owning your mistakes immediately and completely. It baffles a lot of people but I can always learn and move forward with more confidence immediately. It's important but not many (any) people understand it.
"Sharing the highs and the lows" that's why I watch your videos your so open about things it's great to not only watch but listen to as well, true inspiration "thank you"
Nothing more life affirming in a workplace than allowing people to own their mistakes without judgement.
I think Mythbusters is what inspired me to create my own little motto of life:
“Mistakes exist, so you can learn from them.”
I’ve learned so much from your goof ups and mistakes, than my victories. If you fail? Let the negativity pass, slap your own face silly, get yourself up, LEARN from your own mistakes, and move forward.
Gosh darn it, I love this show too much! 😅
I think that comma in that quote you made isn't needed.
@@noahmichaels4999 Eh. Makes the quote sound more, dramatic. 😁
@@gamerkingdom1442 that's; not how: punctuation, works, but- alrighty, l.o!l?
@@noahmichaels4999 um, sorry there. Didn’t mean to break you like that. 😅
I found this video (and this whole series about experiencing difficulties and failures while making) to be very self-affirming. I was blessed to be raised by a dude (a whole village really) who was all about making mistakes and learning from them. I know this isn't the way everyone thinks though. I've had coworkers come down on me for pointing out mistakes in front of supervisors, and those same supervisors come down on me for coming to them and saying 'I made a mistake'. I know this isn't the way to live though. 'My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up.' This is the way.
I’m not a maker but I watch every video with Adam. Such amazing perspectives and lessons I end up using in my daily life as a 20yr old student of life! I can’t thank you enough for these videos!!
Shoot I'm 41 and still learn from this. From 26 till now, Adam is literally a great person to learn from
This topic makes me think of my dad a lot. He had a saying that "The only difference between a newby and a pro is that the pro knows how to either fix his screw up or knows when to leave it alone and do something else for a while." He was a body man and learned how to do many things over the years to the point that he could tell you if something was wrong, how it got that way, and how to fix it even if he had never had the issue before. It is taking the issue and seeing what is wrong and using your experience to find a way around the issue. It might not come fast but it can come over time if you let it. He has been one of the only people in my life that has looked at physical failure, not as a serious issue, but as a learning experience. He would let me screw up at a non serious issue to then teach me why it happened and how to avoid it in the future. If it was a serious issue he would stop me before it got too far and show me what could happen. Failure is not something that we should avoid, unless it can harm or kill, it is something we should learn from. He would laugh and bring up about Edison saying he had not found the way to make a light bulb, but he had found how ever many ways not to make one.
If there are two things that I have learned through life and my therapist it is these two things
Perfection is unattainable excellence is not.
Mistakes aren’t mistakes if you learn from them.
I just spent my morning watching these questions videos and honestly Adam could stich clips together and make an entire segment on life advice. He's talking failure, he's talking success, he's even talking parenting. I've never felt so..thoughtful at 730am. Great wisdom.
Failure is always an option, it’s how we learn to do better.
A lot of the questions being asked to Adam seems to me like they haven’t read his book.
They should, he completely describes his failures and the processes that he goes through every time.
I’ll always remember watching him on stage answering a question about failure and his story about thrying to build an ATM vestibule (yes I’ve seen that friends episode) though this was for his student friend who was directing a theatre piece and he failed, he didn’t imagine how much time he didn’t have and even though he thought he had time he ran out of it towards the end and failed. That is the biggest story I’ll always remember of Adam failing.
Something that you said in the Compact Compact episode that has always stuck with me; and saved me a lot of heartache and stress and frustration; was what you wrote on the semi trailers: Failure is always an option. Because failure is always an option; might not be the option you want, but it’s still an option. It’s not a bad one or one you should do everything you can to avoid; but you shouldn’t seek it out. If it happens it happens, but learn from it and try again.
I've found over my years on earth, stubbornness is way more important than talent or skill. The later 2 come naturally, but to obtain that drive that makes you push through mistakes/failures rarely comes naturally to most people. Anyone who asks me about art or playing an instrument gets the same talk from me. You will most likely suck, maybe even for a good while. What makes most people good at a skill is being too stubborn to give up and just keep throwing things at the wall until they stick. Drive/determination are way more important than any other force/skill within the realm of being creative. Eventually, you will suck less and never, NEVER, come to a point where you think you can't learn something new. I've noticed that most who actually stick with stuff through the tough times often end up making the best creations. Never give up, never surrender!
Also, taking a break and finding something else to do while you ponder a problem often helps tremendously. Usually, a little time away from a frustrating situation is all it takes to get over the hump. I can't count how many times I was trying to learn a new song or write new music, hit a brick wall and took a break for a day, came back and it was like I magically breezed through whatever was giving me a problem.
Psst - this would make a great chapter in your next book. You know, the one dealing with developing the mindset for making things!
Leonard French has occasion to share the phrase "If you are going to have to eat crow, it's better to eat it whilst it is fresh and tender." Owning screw ups, to oneself most of all, is so important and so healthy and we should encourage young people to do it by admitting to our own. I appreciate it must be very difficult for parents who are aware they need their kids to retain a certain level of respect for them in order to be able to shape their development, but I am convinced that young people have more respect for the adults they can see themselves in, and that means being fallible. "My bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up" may be the single piece of advice I would have most benefitted from as a kid, and despite being fourty-hmphenunph years old, I shall take it to heart now!
Problem solving is often confused with creativity. In industry problem solving is the correct description. As an artist problem solving is a facet of creativity.
I really like Adam’s last point on owning up to your mistakes. A while ago I realized that I always either denied or minimized accusations made against me. I also noticed this behavior in others and I committed myself to always take responsibility for my shortcomings. Since then I have had less arguments with others and I have been able to identify and stop doing certain repeated problematic behaviors.
I have never allowed my son to apologize with 'but'... "I'm sorry, but..." The 3rd word negates the first 2. Instead, I have taught him to say "I'm sorry. I will try to do better." There's no promise that you won't fail again, or fail worse, but there is responsibility and thought and hopefully genuine effort.
I needed to hear it. I just came back from my job where I was being trained for a higher position in my workplace. Needless to say, I made few mistakes and I feel horrible about that. Seing this video helped me to calm down and to cope with my current emotions.
"There is no amount of expertise that will allow you to avoid failing" - Adam Savage. I love this sentence! I hope to keep it in my mind for the rest of my life. Both for the mistakes I am going to make and for the mistakes others are going to make while working under me.
It is literally impossible to make no mistakes ever, you'll make mistakes and learn from them. Good luck on your higher position.
I just changed careers and left retail management to become a pastry assistant at a restaurant and I needed to hear all of this so much.
Light bulb moment: Things that don’t work versus things that don’t work the way YOU want them to. Geez. I’m 54 and never thought if it that way. Thanks Adam.
I love listening to Adam talk about failing.
Adam, I have said for years I would rather go down in flames with the truth, then hold onto a lie for any length of time. Admit it, deal with it, get it over with, and get on with your day.
I'm happy to hear this topic of failure and how you learn more from it. I actually did an paper in my college recently about two of life's greatest teachers, pain and failure, they will teach you so much more than pleasure and success ever will, the main reason being is as humans we are not perfect which in itself is perfect, to be imperfect means that you can become better, to be perfect means that there is no need for improvement which is a rather ignorant thought.
I look at it like this, I didnt fail, I learned what not to do. Stuff happens you just gotta deal with it.
This is such a phenomenal video. In so many ways, “my bad, I’m sorry, I screwed up.” Applies to so much.
The best advice my mom ever gave me " Athletes make millions of dollars every year and fail to be perfect. Why am I expected to be perfect for a fraction of the money?" It is strange that the less people are paid the more perfection people expect. Now, I just fight my need to be perfect and tell the world to adjust its expectation or pay me a LOT more money.
The power of "I made a mistake and I'm sorry" is the least acknowledged power in the world. You have defused the situation, acknowledged the error, taken ownership of the problem, taken ownership of the learning, and admitted humanity. Not only are people less willing to punish you, they are more willing to help you get padt this and get better to avoid it happening (exactly the same way) again.
Mate, this talks to my ADD so much. Sooths my soul. Thank you, Adam.
Adam is my ADHD mentor/idol, for real
@@Sunegami Amen to that. Stay strong.
I worked as a machinist for many years, the parts (castnings) I machined cost (my employer) thousands of dollars. One thing that helped me deal with 'failure' was doing the best I could possibly do given the time and constraints I was given...and having some sort of Zen was an absolute.
I used to be real quick to admit when I would mess something up but I always had a hard time being blamed for something that I didn't directly do. An example would be if my crew would get chewed out for something going wrong but it was one of the other guys who made the screw up. The real lesson to learn is to just adapt and keep going. Don't waste time arguing or blaming each other. That not only looks bad but it gets you nowhere. Sometimes I just have to take responsibility as a crew member no matter if it was me who did it or not. Let's figure out a way to correct the issue and move on. Thanks for the great vids.
I do the exact same thing. Every time I'm making something, my goal for the day is usually to get a project to the point that I can paint it at the end of the day so it can dry all night. I usually get to the point that I'm rushing and end up with a run in the paint or something.
14:20 the world needs this so hard right now
What is difficult about failure, despite how people say how you learn when you fail; which I agree with, is how systems punish failure. You fail a class, you have to take it again, pay the fee's, spend the time, miss internships and all that. You fail at work, you probably will get fired. The punishment also associated with the result of failure is the thing I think that makes people avoid failure.
Adam, I feel ya. Beginning of all of my new jobs, I find myself saying "what the heck am I doing here?" But I needed to take it one day at a time. Now folks are asking me for advice.
I had a personal victory the other day. Instead of getting mad when I accidently drilled to deep and put a small hole through to the hero side on the main face of a wood project I was working on, I just took a breath, and said "they invented wood filler for a reason" and I carried on. Didn't get mad or discouraged at an incredibly minor issue since I made a mistake on the show side. Moved on and it turned out to be a really nice mental thing.
I work in a different space than Adam (I build mathematical models in Excel). Within my team, I am considered the top at quality control ("QC"). Part of my success in that role is due to my ability to recognize common mistakes. About half the mistakes that I pick up in QC are ones that I have previously made. And one of the reasons that I make "fewer mistakes" than my peers is due to my ability to self-QC my own work. Failure happens. Successful teams are built to accommodate and correct for failures.
Love listening to you speak on this topic. The way you discuss it motivates me to not let screwing up become a fear that derails my ambition to make
I think hearing you say" failure is always an option " as a kid made me far far more capable of learning ,cheers :) I don't feel I'm incapable of any skill on earth that I have any interest in because failure is always an option ,not only an option it's required to learn properly sometimes, In my opinion the basis of real intelligence is the ability to learn from your failures and continue going /learning /advancing. Keep up the great content Adam.
"The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things."
Interesting...like boss fights get tougher as you go through the game. ✌️😎
@@erinmcdonald7781 😁
@@erinmcdonald7781 or like.. the Peter Principle.. "Employees/Managers are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent." .. Lol.
Hi Adam, I thought you might be interested to know that, while imposter syndrome is pretty common across the spectrum, people with ADHD, which you've self-diagnosed in the past, are more prone to the syndrome and more crippling cases of it. I've experienced this personally, and it's been a big hurdle for me to overcome. Glad you found a way to combat it!
Only the narcissists will dislike this video because they will never admit their own failure 😂 after all it’s always someone else’s fault...... nice video Adam & great mantra for life
I feel like all of society tells us to never admit our failures, it is annoying to only just be learning to own them immediately 10 years into my career.
Failure is inevitable if you are pushing yourself beyond your limits. This is essential to growth. In F1 drivers must live on the limit to compete. In order to find the limit they have to go over the limit. This is very dangerous. We must cross those lines in order to find optimum. Hence failure is inevitable. I’m an artist not a maker. I must challenge my limits at all times in order to be relevant. For the most part death is not a consequence of going over the limit but it can still be dangerous psychologically
Own your mistakes, best advice
Adam talking about his need to get stuff done, and the rush that he gets from the last screw, the last touch of paint, and how he wants that all the time....with that fraction of the Ecto-1 sitting there in the frame.... Aside from the $ aspect, I don't think I would be able to wait a year or more to be able to finish a project.
I didnt know I was a writer with delayed success. Im gonna make sure people know that.
When I think about things not working the way I want them to I think of sitting in a train which gets delayed.
There is no way to influence the cause or the effect, so it is pointless to think about it in any way.
When I think about failure I think about SpaceX. Their entire philosophy revolves around failing as much as possible, because every failure teaches important lessons and gets them closer to perfection.
Mistakes, ohya i build everything with this Material.
Especially good for building character. And experience.
Why did I just read this with a Canadian accent? 🤪🥴🤪🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@alinepeed7167 I dont know, im German, so maybe it should be a german Accent?!
Alright, real specific, but I think that when Adam is referring to the carburetor he's referring to Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny
Vinny: "See, the first thing you do is
take the carburetor off the
manifold. But suppose you skip
the first step and try to rebuild
the carb while it's still on the
manifold? And then let's say
while you're replacing a jet, you
accidentally drop the jet and it
goes down the carb, rolls down
the manifold and into the head?
You're fucked. You just learned
the hard way that you're supposed
to remove the carburetor first."
I love My Cousin Vinny...
Brazil...2021. The Brazilian and his fan
Thanks for the questions and thank you for the answers. Not a maker like everyone here; just an IT engineer. I get that exact same feeling on almost all of my projects. Biggest problem for me is when I screw up I'm not the only one who knows. Usually have 50+ grumpy users calling in disgust of my screw up.
I seem to do better work if I'm not all scared about messing things up. I don't want to screw up but it's nice to know that when I do it'll be ok. Some jobs are super stressful because of being afraid to do one thing wrong. That's usually when things do start to go bad.
"Get-shit-doneitis" I love that.
Great to see this as I'm remaking a piece. At least this iteration I thought to film it from the start, so I can make a video.
Far too often the word "failure" is used when "mistake" should be used. Everyone makes mistakes. That's how we learn, from our own mistakes and those of others.
Failures are definitive. Failures are when something goes so terribly wrong that there's no going back, and it's all because of you. Not because you didn't know better, but because you DID know better, but chose to ignore. Or because you took on something that was WAY beyond your capabilities.
If it's something you CAN "fix" or recover from, it's only a failure when you give up completely. You don't learn from failures. You learn from mistakes!
Those who can't make mistakes can't make anything.
Hey Adam loved your work on Myth Busters and I love your Cosplays and prop work, you and a few others inspired me to build props
my grandfather a very shall we say grass roots type of person told me when i was helping him in his shop. Shit happens been happening for thousands of years. you can either step in it or walk around it. if you step in it you'll learn to walk around it its that simple. of course i was 5 at the time and didn't realize what he was saying but now that i'm older i get what he was saying.
An inspiring way to start off my Sunday 😌
And an inspiring way to round of my Sunday 🙂🐿
"This is what's happening"
Hmm I like that.
"the lessons of failure in the final analysis, are recorded on the report cards of success"
This video promoted me to do another search for the classic Scott Beach (Committee in SF) treatise on "Failure 101." This time I succeeded (see what I did there) in finding an LP with that cut on it. I will report back once it arrives.
Love that experience you shared. I knew someone Like your Former Mentor's !!!
I figured out a long time ago that admitting a screw up as soon as possible usually makes things go way smoother with the other people involved in the process of whatever job you are doing. I also found that when I did something I could get into trouble for, or that might upset someone else, I just told on myself. Every supervisor I have ever had since I started doing that has appreciated my honesty, and that made them trust me more, and ended up making my job that much more easy because I did not have people who have never done my job, telling me how to do it. Instead, my honesty led to them seeing that I knew what I was doing, could do what needed to be done, and would listen to me when I needed their help to get a problem solved. The awareness to know when you screw up, and the honesty to admit it right off the bat, is one of the very best things anyone can have at any job their is.
Thank you for sharing man! I appreciate the honesty you put in answering. These days I believe, honesty, It’s a quality that is disappearing…. Sometimes is so difficult just to talk……Anyway. Thanks. 👍
I appreciate the honesty of this.
Thanks Adam for this very frank discussion. Great insights.
I'm member of an DIY car repair shop. Although it is a nice place to do car repairs. It is also annoying to have to deal with the stubborn "advice" people give. Like their approach is the only way to do a car repair properly. I don't mind using someones advice if it makes sense. But sometimes I just wanna do it in my own style, because I really feel I understand the stuff and I know better. Which is sometimes seen as odd or stubborn by others.
For one thing I don't think you do need to replace a CV axle seal each time you unmount the axle. My style of removal and insertion of the half-shaft into the differential is a lot more careful that what I see other people doing. In their eyes their hypothesis gets confirmed each time they fail to replace the seal, while I know you should do the removal and insertion less rough and more careful and clean.
Amen to a bunch of this! Thanks jedi homie
Ha! "Getshitdoneitis" great. Me too. Often to the point of extreme exhaustion. I can't stop! I have to finish this! Guaranteed recipe to subsequently screw it up.
This is some therapeutic stuff right here.
Needed this video, thanks Adam.
"My bad. I screwed up. I'm sorry." That's a mantra I know a few folks follow, but at the same time they don't learn from it or try to change anything about what has happened or what will happen in the future. It's like some people think apologising absolves them of all consequences and they'll often get defensive and angry if you try to push them to actually do anything differently. I think the mantra really needs an extra phrase. Something like, "How can I help make things better?" or "How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?" or even just "I'll try to do better next time." It really sucks to make everyone else into the Bad Guy by apologising all the time without addressing the issues that necessitate the apology in the first place, ya know? Habitual poor choice makers shouldn't stop thinking about what choices they're making because they said an empty apology; they should look to the future and how they can get themselves and others out of those sorts of miserable situations before they happen, so that they and others can be happier. It can't be fun apologising all the time either, I'm sure.
The sooner you own your mistake, the sooner you can fix it and move on.
Yes, I can gain knowledge from hearing how things are done, but I need it explained where I can go wrong along the way.
Rule 1 of making a mistake: Take responsibility. DO NOT blame tools or others, it goes a long way with employers.
Thanks for sharing Adam.
Looking forward to hearing what Adam has to say about failure. Anyone as successful as Adam has no doubt made a mountain of f ups.
I think I see a future tested T-shirt from this episode! Love that mantra.
My bad
I'm sorry
I screwed up 🪛
And a new Batch^^
I like that term "getting-shit-done-itis".