“Success is one of the possible outcomes”

This is one of my new favourite quotes:

“Success is one of the possible outcomes.”

It’s from Elon Musk, while discussing SpaceX’s Starship challenges.

I’ve often thought that the tempered Stoic ‘ambition’ is misunderstood.

The idea of aiming for the stars while expecting a good chance of failure seems counter-intuitive. We hear the ‘burn the boats’ motivational speeches often enough to deem such pragmatism to be for those of weaker spirit.

But that’s simply untrue.

Rather, a “Heads I win, tails I still win” mind is far more inclined to find steady progress than one that must pause to lick its wounds each time things don’t go its way.

If “success is one of the possible outcomes”, you’ll be quite happy to try again if and when things don’t necessary turn out the way you’re aiming for.