Failures

Life is like debugging code. You write what you think is a perfect piece, hit "run," and bam—red error messages everywhere. Does that mean you’re a terrible programmer? Of course not. It just means you’ve got a bug to fix. And fixing bugs is where the real progress happens.

This is how goals work too. It’s not about perfectly executing your first plan; it’s about identifying what went wrong, revising, and trying again. A programmer doesn’t keep running bugged code, hoping it magically works the next time. They test, tweak, and iterate until the program runs smoothly.

We’re often told it takes 10,000 hours to master something. But it’s not about the hours; it’s about 10,000 iterations. Growth isn’t about slogging through endless effort on a broken system. It’s about experimenting, learning, and improving each time. Every iteration gets you closer to the solution.

The beauty of this approach is that you don’t need to wait for perfection to act. Start where you are, test your ideas, and refine as you go. Whether it’s a Judo throw or an app, treat each repetition as an opportunity to get feedback from reality. You’re not aiming for flawless execution; you’re building toward success one tweak at a time.

And don’t beat yourself up when things go wrong. A programmer doesn’t throw their laptop out the window when they hit a bug (at least not immediately). They find the bug and fix it. Life is no different. Failures aren’t a sign to quit; they give us data to adjust.