Failing with Abandon

Failing with Abandon - Nate Soares (archive):

This is a short public service announcement: you don’t have to fail with abandon.

Say you’re playing Civilization, and your target is to get to sleep before midnight, and you check the clock, and it’s already 12:15. If that happens, you don’t have to say "too late now, I already missed my target" and then keep playing until 4 in the morning.

…

Over and over, I see people set themselves a target, miss it by a little, and then throw all restraint to the wind. "Well," they seem to think, "willpower has failed me; I might as well over-indulge." I call this pattern "failing with abandon."

But you don’t have to fail with abandon. When you miss your targets, you’re allowed to say "dang!" and then continue trying to get as close to your target as you can.