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What About Today?
Mistakes are stepping-stones on the Road To Success. Some mistakes are easier to recover from than others.
Fall 🍃 Back
In the grand scheme of things, an hour one way or the other doesn’t add up to much. That being said, I’ve had some really productive hours. In this case, gaining an hour is a real benefit because it’s more time to snuggle with my darling wife tonight.
Laika, 1957
Being the first to accomplish something doesn’t always mean you did it right.
Recently, my son performed in a play called Merrily We Roll Along. It’s a rather sad tale of a group of friends whose lives unravel due to their choices and hubris. The tale is told in reverse chronological order. At the end of the play or the beginning of their friendship is a scene where they first meet on an apartment rooftop looking for the Sputnik I satellite with their binoculars.
Sputnik I was launched on October 4th, 1957. It was an enormous PR victory for the Soviet Union and kicked off the Space Race between the United States and the Soviets. Sputnik I was the first artificial satellite launched to orbit by humankind. It was essentially a noisemaker. A sphere with batteries and radio antennae, it was designed to orbit the Earth for as long as the batteries endured and be noticed doing so. It orbited for about three weeks and then burned up in the atmosphere.
Sputnik 2 was launched on November 3rd, 1957. Since they had succeeded in their initial coup, the Soviets decided to rub salt in the wound by launching the first living being into space. A sweet little stray dog named Laika was sent up in the second launch. They had hoped to keep her up there for observation for several days, but equipment failure led to her untimely death due to stress and overheating at 109°F by the third orbit.
It was considered a phenomenal success in terms of the Space Race and Laika was awarded posthumously with a lovely plaque and statue.
Thing is, where’s the Soviet Union today?
Being there first doesn’t mean staying there. You have to keep trying or you’ll collapse into the dustbin of history.
Mistakes Are Stepping-Stones On The Road To Success
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. ~George Bernard Shaw
Goodness gracious! The last couple of days have been rather trying. Trying to make a decent eCover. Trying to make a landing page. Trying to get my damned work done. Terribly trying.
I’m thinking that perhaps I’ve made a rather bad decision. In theory, it should work just great. We’ll see what happens. Would be great if the technology participated.
I’m also beginning to think I’ve made a mistake in ignoring what needs to be a guiding principle from now on. One of the most important things about making mistakes is knowing not to repeat them. I won’t be making this mistake again regardless of the perceived value.
Tonight we fall back. For all intents and purposes, I already have.