When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. — George Bernard Shaw

When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.

Author: George Bernard Shaw

Insight: Most of us treat failure like a mistake to be avoided—something that means we're doing something wrong. Shaw flips this completely. He didn't try to become perfect at fewer things; he just accepted that failure was baked into the process and responded by doubling down on volume. It's a weirdly liberating way to think about trying. This matters because modern life trains us to optimize before we start. We overthink decisions, wait for the right moment, research exhaustively before committing to anything. Shaw's approach suggests there's actually something freeing about accepting a high failure rate and just moving forward anyway. If you know nine out of ten attempts won't work, suddenly the tenth one doesn't carry all that weight. You're not betting everything on getting it right—you're just playing the numbers game. The non-obvious part: this isn't just about grinding harder. It's about permission. When you accept that failure is normal and inevitable, you stop treating each attempt like a referendum on your worth. You try things you wouldn't normally risk. You experiment. You move faster. Paradoxically, accepting failure at scale might be the fastest way to actual success.