I have a problem with MSDN Online at the moment. I've had it for a little while, and have no idea how to fix it. The problem is that the table of contents that typically displays on the left is just not working. Funnily enough, I only have this problem in Internet Explorer, if I use Mozilla everything works like a charm.
I've tried security settings, privacy settings, I've looked through the Advanced settings. I've restarted, rebooted, checked for updates, even ventured into the complicated source, you name it - but I can't get that sidebar to load. It has one node in the tree view that just says “Unavailable” and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it - I'm stumped, which is really annoying me.
Anyway, in my quest to try and resolve this (it's becoming a problem because the MSDN Library is hard to navigate with out the TOC) I stumbled across this interesting article simply titled Make More Mistakes.
It's about ISV start-ups predominantly, but I thought that the quote was really cool, and quite encouraging:
Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure — or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you will find success.
— Thomas J. Watson, Sr.
It bought to mind a conversation that I was having with someone at a party recently regarding coffee. I was saying that I had once heard a rumor (I don't know if this is true) that high-school kids who drink coffee tend to do better. I thought this was interesting, I wonder if smart people drink coffee, or if coffee makes you smart? :) Anyway, the girl I was chatting to commented that she'd heard that people who drink coffee do more work, but make more mistakes. I added that, if you learn from your mistakes then that is a good thing - and this little quote is kind of along those lines.
John.
Johnno
Watson senior was a great industrialist, but he didn't put words together too well. Here is a perhaps tidier edited version:
The formula to doubling your success, is to double your rate of failure. Do not be discouraged by failure, learn from it. Failure is not the enemy of success, to have more success we must have more failure. Make mistakes. Make all you can. (Thomas J. Watson, Sr.)
And here is a blurb on the man himself
Watson. Thomas J. Snr. (1874-1956) The elder TJW started work selling cash registers for NCR in 1896. In 1915 he became President of the company that was to become known as International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924. IBM weathered the depression by building machines and stockpiling them so that Watson could honor his no retrenchments promise to staff. When Roosevelt introduced the Social Security Act in 1933, IBM won the contract because it was the only company with enough machines to keep the Nation’s records. By the end of the Depression IBM had 90% of the market for business machines.
His son Thomas J Watson jnr took over from the old man at IBM.
Thanks Dad! :)