Good News! It Didn't Work

The great thing about buying something lousy is that you learn not to buy it again.

I tried a new type of peanut butter. The texture was terrific.  The color was golden brown. The flavor was...missing. I won't be buying that again. 

Wonderful.  Now I have a working hypothesis that I prefer runner peanuts to Valencia peanuts, and dark roasted to light roasted. So I know what to look for next time.

It's easy to become frustrated when things don't work out:

The new marketing campaign. 

The new workout schedule.

The new calendar system.

But the things that don't work out usually can teach us just as much as the ones that do.  And whether we appraise them as failures or learning opportunities often has a big effect on whether we keep exploring or become frustrated.

My point is not that we should all try new things.  It's that when things don't work out the way we hoped, how we feel about it, and what we do next, is largely a matter of perspective.