Spiritual Bookshelf Episode 59:How to Fail the Right Way and Live a Better Life – Part 2

Hi friends, welcome back to the show. I’m Phillip.I hope you’re doing well and taking good care of yourself.Today I want to share a book that really inspired me recently.It’s called Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, written by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson. If you’ve ever heard of “psychological safety,” she’s the scholar who coined the term. She’s also been named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50.Edmondson spent 25 years studying mistakes and failure, and one big insight from her work is this:Not all failures are created equal.To grow from failure, you must first understand what kind of failure it is.In her book, she breaks failures into three main categories.Let’s walk through them.✦ 1. Basic FailuresThese are the easiest to understand—and the easiest to avoid.Examples include: forgetting to run a required check, missing a small but important detail, sending the wrong version of a fileThe good news? Basic failures can be greatly reduced using: checklists, step-by-step workflows, process remindersA little structure can prevent a lot of trouble.✦ 2. Complex FailuresThese failures happen in large, interconnected systems—like hospitals, airlines, fintech, or public infrastructure.In complex systems, one tiny issue can: trigger a chain reaction, affect multiple departments, turn into a major accidentThese failures aren’t caused by one person, nor can they be fully prevented.They come from the way systems interact and how information moves (or doesn’t move).✦ 3. Intelligent FailuresThese are the good failures—the ones we should make more of.They happen when you’re: exploring something new, testing an idea, innovating, researching, experimenting with small risksIf you don’t repeat the same mistake, this type of failure becomes an asset, not a setback.✦ Three Mindsets for Failing WellEdmondson offers three mental models to help us avoid bad mistakes and embrace good ones.1. Self-awareness2. Situational awareness3. System awarenessUnderstand the environment you’re in: your team, your workplace, your family system, your organizational structureMost failures aren’t individual—they’re systemic.When you understand the system, you avoid many unnecessary mistakes.🚀  NASA’s Columbia DisasterA tragic example of a bad failure.Engineers had concerns about the shuttle’s thermal tiles.But NASA’s culture was rigid and hierarchical.People were afraid to challenge authority or voice doubts.Psychological unsafety led to silence, which led to disaster.As Edmondson says:“The most dangerous failure is the one no one dares to talk about.”✦ How Do We Apply This to Real Life?Here are three practical ways.Ⅰ. Avoid bad failuresUse: SOPs, checklists, verification steps, cross-checkingFor finances, reports, forms, emails—structure removes a huge amount of preventable mistakes.A simple three-part SOP works wonders: Purpose, Steps, CheckpointsⅡ. Create more intelligent failuresⅢ. Build psychological safety in your team✦ Six Everyday Techniques to Fail BetterThese tiny habits train your brain to switch from fear → learning.🎧 1. Try micro-experiments🎧 2. Do a weekly “small-error review”🎧 3. Use curiosity instead of self-blame🎧 4. Replace shame with: “What can I learn from this?”🎧 5. Create a “prevention checklist”🎧 6. Treat mistakes as information, not judgmentDon’t let fear stop your growth.Let mistakes become your teacher, not your enemy. Wishing you peace and joy.Take care, and I’ll see you next time.