Failure is something that we’ve been penalized for our entire lives. If we failed a test in school our grade was affected in a negative way, the teacher’s attitude towards us changed, and our parents “had a word with us�.

By being scorned for failure we develop a fear of it. We play it safe. Do things that we know will work or have worked before. All of our choices are made to avoid failure at all costs.

And it’s a shame that we’re taught to develop such an attitude; such a fear.

Thomas Edison understood the importance of failure:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.â€?

Another group that understands and appreciates failure is Wieden + Kennedy. They’re an ad agency that’s based in Portland, Oregon and has made Nike the behemoth it is today.

They offer a program called the wk12. It’s a yearly educational experience where a group of a dozen accepted students from all walks of life learn the ins and outs of the ad business, and more importantly, how to question the norm.

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I don’t care if it’s a phony, this is friggin’ hilariuos!

Then, like two months ago, or whenever they announced that Vista is gonna slip into 2007 — and believe me, we’re talking waaaaay into 2007 — I set up a meeting with Gates and I’m like, Dude, I’ve got OS X working on an Intel processor. Why don’t you just drop this piece of crap Vista code base and just roll over to OS X? Forget the OS business and move up the stack into ERP apps or whatever. I mean, I’ve got it right here, Unix based, solid as a friggin rock, nice user interface, all wrapped up with a bow on it, I’ve even ported it to Intel for you, I mean what more do I have to do? It’s like I’m teetering next to you at the bar in my miniskirt and high heels and opening one button after another on my blouse and telling you, Dude, I am soooooo wasted, let’s go to your place and take some Roofies — and you just don’t friggin get it! I mean, you’ve got thousands of drones slaving away trying to make a knock-off of my operating system! Why? I’ll friggin give it to you, okay? Or not quite give but you know. The dollars can work themselves out, as my friend Michael Ovitz (who totally loves our new MacBook Pro) likes to say. Gates just sat there rocking back and forth in his chair and then said in this really low voice that he was gonna stick to Windows. I thought maybe he was gonna cry. Because it was clear that he knew how frigged he is. I mean, he’s seen the code. He knows it won’t run. I swear, I felt almost sorry for him. Almost.

Ok seriously this guys blog has me in stitches. It’s someone writing a blog as if they were Steve Jobs. If you know anything about Steve, the way he talks, his mannerisms, etc. - this will crack you up too. You gotta take a look at it.

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs

His writing style is hilarious when you read it in Steve Jobs’ creative hippie voice.