Aim to disappoint

There is a stigma around scientists that we love to experiment. But that’s the Disney version of our job. What we really love is to obtain the results that we expected, with the minimum number of iterations required to confirm our findings. Some experiments may take weeks to prepare, especially when working with keeping laboratory cells in a dish alive and happy. Sometimes, you pull 12-hour shifts just to get a single datapoint. Coming out empty-handed after sacrificing your social time, lunch breaks, and sanity can be deeply disappointing.

That’s why the notion that scientists aren’t upset when a hypothesis fails feels oversimplified. Failure is personal—it’s your literature research, your experimental design, your hands pipetting, your mind working overtime to get it right. When experiments fail, of course we’re upset. But sometimes, that frustration or even anger fuels perseverance. You adjust parameters, double-check designs, and learn from mistakes, yet failure may still follow. Eventually, that frustration can lead to success or push you toward an unexpected, creative solution.

Rage, I’ve found, also fuels many creative projects. For example, Milly Tamati built a cycle-sync app out of personal frustration. Similarly, self-published authors often cite simmering anger or pain as the driving force behind completing a book—even without deadlines or external pressure. Maybe aiming to minimize disappointment is the wrong approach. Perhaps you should embrace it, because it means you’ve given everything to make the experiment, project, or book a success. If there are no stakes, have you truly tried?

Keep up the audacity,
Laura

PS. I’m 40% into The Obstacle is the Way and, despite this minor disagreement, I love it so far! So many lessons that apply to visibility and creating online.

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