Dyson on Failure

James Dyson created thousands of prototype vacuums over 15 years before he was satisfied with his product. In an aptly named article titled Failure Doesn’t Suck, Dyson recounts how he created the product and his thoughts on failure.

I made 5127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure. I’ve always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative.

— Sir James Dyson