A $10 million mistake!

Well, there goes another 10+ million dollars, literally up in smoke! 💥

That’s what I was thinking as I watched a recent SpaceX rocket testing explosion earlier in the year 🚀 (see video below.) It was a pretty impressive fireball I must admit…yet pretty mind-blowing to think how much time, effort, and of course money this catastrophic event cost! 🤯

Now for us mere mortals, the thought of having a mistake that cost us $10+ million would be pretty horrifying. Fortunately for SpaceX founder Elon Musk, a mistake like this puts only a tiny dent into his ridiculous wealth (his net worth in July 2020 was in excess of $70 billion!), so I think the occasional exploding rocket wouldn’t bother him too much! 🤑

Although catastrophic failures like these are not all that common, I think there is a definite realisation that errors and malfunctions are likely to occur when pushing the boundaries of engineering, space exploration, and scientific endeavour. Whilst it is disappointing when something goes wrong (even if it does create some pretty awesome fireworks), I’ve noticed that the SpaceX team are incredibly quick to discover the root cause of the issue, and how they can make improvements and adjustments to their next rocket. They immediately pour over the recorded data with a fine-toothed comb, analysing every aspect of the project to find the error and prevent the same thing from happening again in the future.

“Failure is part of the process. Success is the outcome!” – Camellia Wong

This got me thinking…if Elon Musk is willing to make mistakes that cost him $10+ million, are you allowing yourself to make mistakes in the pursuit of musical excellence, especially as the price of failure is considerably less?

Do you see mistakes as an integral part of the learning process, or are they to be avoided at all costs? Are mistakes serving a purpose in your musical journey?

I see this in plenty of performers – a gripping fear of failure that holds so many people back from reaching their full potential. The pursuit for perfection becomes paralysing. Any blemish is tinged with self-judgement or shame. Confidence is crippled, and all sense of enjoyment quickly crushed. 😞

If Elon Musk had this attitude, do you think he would keep coming back with renewed energy after each failed testing attempt? Somehow, I doubt it!

From my perspective, a fear of failure has been something that has surfaced at various times throughout my career. However, one thing I have found is that if you can change your association with failure by viewing it as something that is SERVING you, then you are able to quickly move past judgement and look for ways to grow and improve in the future. Even in the most disappointing of situations, such as a disastrous audition, competition, or an embarrassing mistake in a concert, you are still able to see the benefits from a poor result.

“How is this seemingly negative outcome serving me and teaching me how to become a better musician? Why did I make the mistakes that I did, and what can I do differently next time to get a better result? What do I need to develop further in order to achieve the results that I want to achieve?”

Pushing your own boundaries and metaphorically “blowing up a few rockets” in the process is all part of striving to be the best that you can be. You see, if you’re not willing to fail, then you are holding yourself back from doing anything of real meaning in life. Yes, failure hurts. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it comes at a cost.

But when you focus on what you learn from failure, and the things you can tweak to improve your performance next time, are you able to quickly move past the soul-destroying feeling of “what should have been”, and look towards the positive, future-oriented “what is to come.”

Allowing yourself to learn and grow through your mistakes is such an important skill to develop, both as a musician, and as a human being. Everyone on the planet makes mistakes, and you or I are no exceptions! So the next mistake you make, be certain it’s one you get better and stronger from, rather than letting it weigh you down. Let it serve you, and strengthen you towards success!

If you’re into exploding rockets, then here is the clip of the SpaceX Starship SN4 rocket being blown to smithereens! 🚀💥😳

SpaceX lost one of its Starship prototype test vehicles after a successful test fire of its SN-20 Raptor engine. Reminder that this vehicle is in no way rela...