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    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown
    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown
    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown
    Ebook112 pages2 hours

    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown

    By Pema Chödrön and Seth Godin

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    When her granddaughter was accepted to Naropa University, the celebrated author Pema Chödrön promised that she’d speak at the commencement ceremony. Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better contains the wisdom shared on that day. “What do we do when life doesn’t go the way we hoped?” begins Pema “We say, ‘I’m a failure.” But what if failing wasn’t just “okay,” but the most direct way to becoming a more complete, loving, and fulfilled human being? Through the insights of her own teachers and life journey, Pema Chödrön offers us her heartfelt advice on how to face the unknown—in ourselves and in the world—and how our missteps can open our eyes to see new possibilities and purpose. For Pema’s millions of readers, prospective graduates, or anyone at a life crossroads, this gem of clarity and reassurance is sure to find a welcome place in many a kitchen, office, and backpack.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSounds True
    Release dateSep 1, 2015
    ISBN9781622035571
    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown

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    Reviews for Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better

    4.5/5

    59 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Lovely read, terrible scan. Claustrophobic spacing, mangled lines and form.
    • 2/5
      wise words but the quality of the scan was terrible
    • 5/5
      Short and crisp with anecdotes of some interesting ideas
    • 1/5
      The text is garbled and often unreadable. The content looks good, but I cannot confirm since I was technically unable to read the text.
    • 5/5
      This book is inspirational. I enjoyed the author's perspective on cultivating a relationship with human folly and moving forward through tough challenges.
    • 5/5
      A helpful approach to living with failure.
    • 5/5
      Can I give this a 6? I've heard and read Pema's words about fear and facing the void before. This time, when I read the interview with Tami Simon, I felt truly and totally vulnerable. Maybe it just spoke to me in a way I haven't gotten before. Maybe I should listen, listen again, listen better?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I found the interview section of this book much more impactful and worth reading than the speech section. Although the speech was great, the transcription of the one-on-one interview with Chödrön was amazing. I'm interested in reading more of her books. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for some insight on failure, moving forward and just being human.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better - Pema Chödrön

    The Naropa University 2014 Commencement Address

    I said to my granddaughter in her freshman year, If you graduate, I will give the talk.

    So, apparently, she is graduating.

    I have never given a graduation speech before. When I asked for advice, they said, Short. Keep it short.

    I thought a lot about what would be helpful to all of you who are about to go out there, not knowing what is going to happen. And you could say that this is true for all of us.

    No one ever knows what is going to happen next.

    But these transition times—between something being set (like being a student and coming back to that each year) and things being uncertain—are times of enormous potential.

    Anything is possible.

    So, now what? Will you be able to get a job?

    Big question.

    What’s it going to be like to try to support yourself without any help from anybody?

    That’s a good question.

    I was shown a cover of a book from the 1980s, and the book was called, What Are You Going to Do after College? And on the cover of it was this man graduating in cap and gown, and he was looking out, full of promise, but he was stepping into a vast void, a spiraling-downward vortex. And I thought, gosh, that is a pretty accurate picture of what it is like to graduate—even more now than in the 80s.

    It reminds me of when I was first taught to teach. It was here in Boulder, actually. I was working at what’s now the Shambhala Center, and I was being taught how to teach, as many of us were. And the instructions I received were to prepare well, know your subject, and then go in there with no note cards.

    Honestly, that is the best advice for life: no note cards.

    Just prepare well and know what you want to do. Give it your best, but you really don’t have a clue what’s going to happen.

    And note cards have limited usefulness.

    So when Naropa asked me for the topic of my talk, I decided not to give it to them because I thought if I did, they wouldn’t let me do it!

    My talk is inspired by a quote from Samuel Beckett that goes like this. He knew something about waiting with no note cards!

    The quote is Fail. Fail again. Fail better.

    I thought if there is one skill that is not stressed very much, but is really needed, it is knowing how to fail well.

    The fine art of failing.

    There is a lot of emphasis on succeeding. And whether we buy the hype or not, we all want to succeed, especially if you consider success as it works out the way I want it to. You know it feels good in the gut and in the heart because it worked out. So failing by that definition is that it didn’t work out the way you wanted it

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