More on Success (and Failure); Good News (and Bad)

What TIME HORIZON do you use to determine whether something you tried is a success or failure? Taking a short-term perspective makes failure look like, well, failure. But the longer your view, the more your failures will start becoming more and more synonymous with learning. And learning is form of success.

There's an old Chinese fable that looks at good news and bad news in terms of this same TIME HORIZON dynamic. Sorry, but I don't have an exact wording (or appropriate attribution), but the story goes something like this:

An old Chinese farmer had only a horse and a son. And one day, the horse ran off. The local villagers cried, "What BAD news!" The old farmer just said, "Maybe."

The next day, the horse returned, bringing with him an entire herd of wild horses. The villagers roared, "What GOOD news!" The old farmer just said, "Maybe."

The next day, while trying to tame one of the wild horses, the farmer's son broke a leg. The villagers again cried, "What BAD news!" The old farmer again said, "Maybe." (The son cried, "Ouch!")

The next day, the Emperor of the land came through the village and drafted all able-bodied men to join him in war.

The son was told to stay at home.