J.K. Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

by markbao • 17 years ago

42 3 17 years ago

randy• 17 years ago

An oldie but a great speech (old HN discussion here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=211832). For anyone who's interested, here are some other extraordinary commencement speeches:

Steve Jobs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Bill Watterson: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/stadil/spe_kc.htm

David Foster Wallace: http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html

There is a lot of good advice and numerous great sound-bytes from all of these; but one of my personal favorites comes from Bill Watterson, who makes a point that I feel often gets overlooked at HN in our relentless pursuit of success:

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential ― as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.

To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.

david927• 17 years ago

That's an amazing quote. Thanks.

ahoyhere• 17 years ago

This essay was the driving reason I created and ran failcamp(.org).

It's true: the most valuable lesson is not what you learn directly from your mistakes, but by realizing what you are capable of overcoming.

After my catastrophic financial failure I, too, am confident in my abilities and no longer worry.

J.K. Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

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