I grew up in a culture where we are not so forgiving towards mistakes. A recent chat with an american-based venture capitalist (VC) confirmed this:
“I’ve realised that over here, when your startup fail and you lose money, people scream for blood.”
“But over in the US where I come from, when your startup fail and you go back to your VC, he’d say ‘common, you can do it, gimme one more startup to invest in!’”
What a strange contrast. Almost unimaginable to us here in this part of the world.
But then I thought of a parallel. Driving along the highway.
Often times, when getting to our destination, we make wrong turns, don’t we?
Yet nobody screams for our blood. Or do they?
Why? Because end of the day we still get to our destination, maybe just longer.
I remember once I was on the Malaysian highway and I missed my highway turning, TWICE!
Which meant a good detour of more than 1 hour. But in the end, hey I got there. And nobody wanted my blood.
In fact my co-passenger enjoyed the detour cause it meant we got to chat for another hour!
So maybe we can take the same approach towards our mistakes in life. Be it a business or a personal failure.
Relax, take heart, see things in light of the bigger picture – that you WILL get to your destination. Just that it’d take a little longer.
And maybe you’ve got to help others around you see the same so that they won’t be beating you down before you had the chance to finish your detour to your destination!
Yes time may be lost, but invaluable lessons are often learnt – we can almost compare this to what we call the ’scenic route’ on the highway :p
And in the end, most importantly, we get to our destination.
I think it’s good to have people around you who believe in you, that you will get to your destination no matter what; and thus not break your back when you make a wrong turn on the highway of life.
Have you been beating yourself up over some mistakes recently, my co-sojourner?
I for one have made countless mistakes, and beat myself up over them many times.
But I’ve also come to realise that sometimes, the journey itself is a rewarding experience, even before you reach your destination.
Hope this little sharing helps you 
Have a great week ahead!
5 Comments
February 24, 2008 at 8:10 pm
[...] touroperatorvietnam wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI grew up in a culture where we are not so forgiving towards mistakes. A recent chat with an american-based venture capitalist (VC) confirmed this: “I’ve realised that over here, when your startup fail and you lose money, people scream for blood.” “But over in the US where I come from, when your startup fail and you go back to your VC, he’d say ‘common, you can do it, gimme one more startup to invest in!’” [...]
February 24, 2008 at 9:17 pm
[...] Steve wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI grew up in a culture where we are not so forgiving towards mistakes. A recent chat with an american-based venture capitalist (VC) confirmed this: “I’ve realised that over here, when your startup fail and you lose money, people scream for blood.” “But over in the US where I come from, when your startup fail and you go back to your VC, he’d say ‘common, you can do it, gimme one more startup to invest in!’” [...]
March 1, 2008 at 4:56 am
It’s true. In US, you can do business, go bankrupt and your bankruptcy record will be removed in 7 or 8 years. Meaning you can start off clean eventually and not having to pay any single cent!
April 9, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Hey there
Thanks for this – encouraged me. Been thinking about my roundabout journey tonight and reading this helps me feel more hopeful
=)
July 6, 2008 at 11:45 am
[...] Learn to enjoy the journey, and not just focused on the destination – although I think many on this highway might not know their destinations. [...]