The Honey Badger Doesn't Lie in the Snow. Neither Should You.

Today heralds the departure of our Honey Badger. Next week we’ll learn about a different animal, but let’s not get distracted by something new and shiny just yet. There’s more yet to learn from our furry friend.

Think about the kinds of insults and setbacks a honey badger must face on a daily basis. They’re being stung, bitten, kicked, and generally harassed all day every day … if not by other animals, then by mother nature itself. They survive by tucking and rolling right into the next thing without stopping to wallow or nurse their wounds.

They channel their inner Frank Sinatra, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again.

As you know by now, I enjoy skiing. When I was in college I somehow convinced one of my friends to take up snowboarding so we could go up to the mountains together. Many of you know how persistent I can be about these things. But unlike you, my friend was not the most athletic of individuals … nor was he a very fast learner. It’s hard to pick up new things when you’re older.

At any rate, my friend spent a few years on the bunny slopes, and then finally got to where he and I could go out together. Now, that didn’t mean everything was peachy keen.

I often found myself in front of him coming down whatever slope we were on, and I’d reach the bottom of a run only to turn around and find that he wasn’t behind me anymore.

And then I’d stand there in the snow and wait for 10, sometimes 20 minutes or more. Freezing my toes and my fingers off … wondering if he’d broken himself somehow, or died …

I’d stop people as they passed me and ask if they’d seen a big dude further up the slope, lying in the snow … and they usually had.

Because when Steve fell, he didn’t get right back up. He’d porpoise about in the snow for a while, then lie there contemplating the choices he’d made that led him to this Steve-shaped divot in the ground, how much he enjoyed being friends with me, and much more.

What can you learn from Honey Badgers and my friend who is absolutely not named Steve?

We all face setbacks, self-imposed or beyond our control. We take on the wrong client, or hire the wrong person … maybe our pricing is too low or we were rejected by our dream client. The critical frame of mind though is that this is how we learn.

This is what life looks like. This is what business looks like.

This is how science works.

We try something, we succeed or we fail … we learn, and we do better next time.

So in truth, this is what they mean when they say Fail Fast and Fail Often. Because if you’re not failing, you’re not trying. You’re not living.

This is also why I really love the concept of running experiments. You had a hypothesis about how this new hire would work out and you moved forward. Not the right move? Cool, I can introduce you to someone so you can make a better hire next time. That was the point of the experiment. You were a successful scientist.

The honey badger doesn’t expect life to be comfortable or easy, and neither should you. There is absolutely no evidence to support that expectation and you should disabuse yourself of it immediately.

You don’t need to avoid mistakes, you just need to learn from them and don’t let them slow you down.

If you own a law firm or an advisory practice, setbacks are part of the job. The case that should have settled goes to trial. The hire you were sure about is gone in six months. The client you worked hard to land turns out not to be the right fit. None of that means there’s something wrong with you. It means you ran an experiment.

When you get kicked, the only thing that actually costs you is porpoising about in the mess you made … pop back up and get to it. There are still runs to ski.

Ignore your inner Steve. Tuck and roll like a Honey Badger.

Hit reply or reach out. What is one setback you bounced back from faster than you expected?