Problem
Read chapters 8-9 of the book Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol 2020 and complete exercises A, B, C, and D and post in the discussion prompt in Blackboard.
EXERCISE I: FOCUSING ON THE INPUTS
In this exercise you will practice asking questions to help you to focus on the inputs rather than the outputs of the challenges you are facing.
Think of a failure that you have had in your life and ask yourself the following questions:
1) What went wrong with this failure?
2) If some of the inputs were suboptimal, how would you correct them?
3) What went right with this failure?
4) How do you retain the good quality decisions and inputs even if the outcome was a failure?
EXERCISE II: HOW FASCINATING!
In this exercise you will practice taking the sting out of failure, using a method described by Ros and Ben Zander in their book The Art of Possibility. Over the course of the next week, each time you make a mistake (however small), throw your arms up in the air and say "How fascinating!".
Fair warning: If you're anything like me, you'll grumble when you first do this. As you try to put your arms in the air, they'll go up ever so slowly-as if you're doing an imaginary bench press with really, really heavy weights. And the phrase "How fascinating!" will sound more petulant than joyous.
That's okay. Do it anyway. As you bask in the glory of your fascination, ask yourself these questions:
1) What can I learn from this?
2) What if this failure was actually good for me?
3) Write down your answers. At the end of your trial, look back at your notes and reflect on what you learned. You might see patterns that will provide additional learning opportunities. After the week of testing, try to continue this exercise in your everyday life.
EXERCISE III: NEAR MISSES
In this exercise you will replicate an exercise you completed in the previous chapter, when you considered the inputs that produced a failure. This time, you'll examine the inputs that produced a success. This exercise will help you to adopt the habit of pausing after each success and determining what can be learned.
Think of a success that you had in your life. Now ask yourself the questions listed below, and take note of your responses:
1) What went right with this success?
2) How would you retain the good quality decisions and inputs that produced the success?
3) What went wrong with this failure?
4) If some of the inputs were suboptimal, how would you correct them?
EXERCISE IV: THE PRE-MORTEM
In this exercise you will focus on a challenge that you are currently facing and take it through the premortem process.
If you're a business leader, a premortem might focus on a product you're currently designing. You would assume the product failed and then work backward to determine the potential reasons.
If you're a job candidate, a premortem might involve an interview. You would assume you didn't get the job and generate as many reasons as possible for the failure.
Take the following steps:
1) Write down your challenge.
2) In a list, note as many things as you can think of that could go wrong to prevent you from succeeding.
3) As you think through what can go wrong, assign percentage probabilities to each potential problem (e.g., there's a 10% chance of a delivery delay).
4) Now, for each potential problem, note the actions you could take to prevent it.