Try and try again, so the saying goes. The simple question is, if we do not know what does not work, then how will we know what will?

Thomas Edison worked long and hard to create the light bulb. In the course of his work, he tried 10,000 times to no avail. However, he did not see the 10,000 times as failures. He said “I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work”. If we approach each failed attempt at innovation with the mindset that we are not getting anywhere, we will not.

With each of our attempts, it is important to have a system of rapid decision making that helps the project along quickly while learning each step of the way. Each attempt should be evaluated and then is either accepted or discarded. From there, you can develop the accepted attempt or move on to trying something new.

According to author and motivational speaker John C. Maxwell, we fail forward towards success. We can try and try and fail one time after another, but it can take just one win to spell success. It is in the act of the attempt to reach the goal that moves us forward towards accomplishment.