Take a moment to watch this awesome video, it is really revealing. I love it. I especially like what Danica Patrick has to say. “You’re driving your car and you feel freightened a little bit. We bump up against that feeling as much as we can, to try and push that limit further and get comfortable there and then push it again. So you are constantly on the brink of crashing because, . . . that’s the fastest.”
Have a great weekend everyone! Today I am grateful for the save travel of my dogs and I to Vancouver.
What a great video, thanks for sharing!
I would much rather succeed 100% of the time, but if that was my goal, I doubt that I would challenge myself and my dog nearly as much as I would if I was tolerant of some degree of failure. I really liked the Danicka Patrick quote about pushing the envelope, at least as far as training goals are concerned. I’m not so sure I want to crash anytime soon!
I think this idea came up at camp…that failure is not a tragedy, it is INFORMATION.
How you use this information is what makes or breaks the issue, though. If Edison had decided that he couldn’t make a working light bulb after how ever many thousand tries because he was stupid, or because the light bulbs were “bad”, we might still be reading by gaslight! Instead, he discovered 1002 ways NOT to make a light bulb, and one way that worked just fine.
Thanks Susan for this post. It was really all inspiring. i will be thinking about all this for a while.
Hey
This video really illustrates the power of failure… It is a video of my 10 month old border collie training the 2on2off position. I was trying to push the limit and her understanding by moving more to side side of the obstacle instead of standing infront of it, and still expecting er to keep the position straight. At one point she dos not make the 2on2off position straight… But she figures it out, and since then she almost always makes the 2on2off position straight… Yeeha, I’m so proud ;o).Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YIRuJxPZc
(I have tought her the 2on2off position with a lie down instead of with a nosetouch… Sorry Susan ;o))
Jane from Denmark
I think it’s hard not to take failure personally — not to react as though we are failures ourselves when something we try doesn’t work. Joyce is so right that it’s easier to learn to embrace our dogs’ mistakes than our own. That’s a good reminder to put on a recipe card!
Having said that, oh how I long to reach the “unconscious competence” stage . . . . 🙂
Very inspirational video!
susan…you are the ultimate “agility engineer!” . what a powerful piece. i have learned to love it when my dogs makes mistakes. it’s all a matter of approach and choice. however, i need to learn to not be so hard on myself when i make mistakes!
I love how random this posting was…thanks for sharing this vid. I would never have seen it otherwise and watching was worth it. Have a good trip!
Thank you Susan for your wonderful blog postings and your tips. Reading them has become part of my morning ritual. There is nothing more satisfying for me than the feeling of that first success after a string of so many failures. Having experienced that process gives me the strength and tenacity to fight through the pain of failing when I encounter my next challenges.