Thomas Edison and The Do-Over Principle

When I think of The Do-Over Principle the person who comes to my mind first is Thomas Edison.

"Edison executed the first of his 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications on 13 October 1868, at the age of 21. He filed an estimated 500–600 unsuccessful or abandoned applications as well" (Rutgers, 2009, ¶ 1).

Edison didn't accomplish this by giving up and going home. Every time he tried something that didn't work he would call a Do-Over and try something different. When inventing the electric light bulb he didn't do this once, he didn't try it 10 times then quit, when he got to 100 times he still didn't give up. He called a Do-Over almost 10,000 times before he was able to stabilize this
invention.

How many times are you willing to call a Do-Over to achieve your goals?

How long are you going to wait before you call one?

Rutgers. (2009). Edison's Patents. Retrieved August 1, 2009 from http://edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm

The Do-Over Principle

Think back to grade school for a minute. It is a warm spring day and it is time for recess. All your friends are running around on the playground. You rush to the box of red rubber kick balls, the first one you grab is half flat, the next one has a small patch torn open so you can see the rubber insert, but then you see it, the holy grail, the new ball is still in there. You are so excited you get a group together and start picking teams. Finally it is your turn to kick. You step up to the plate, the ball is rolling closer, and you imagine kicking it so hard not only does it go out of the field but it passes the swing set and the monkey bars. As it gets closer to you it hits a small rock just as you kick your leg and you totally miss the ball and almost fall down. Everyone laughs but you pull out your ace in the hole and call a DO OVER.

These magic words, DO OVER have served you well in both sports and games you have played with your family. You roll the dice and get a single pip on each die, snake eyes, DO OVER you shout and then roll the six pips you needed to move ahead on the board. But DO OVER isn’t just for kids games. In baseball you get three tries to hit the ball, more if you accidentally hit it out of bounds. In football you get four tries to move the ball ten yards before the other team gets to try to move it ten yards in the other direction.

In most businesses you generally get three tries to prove yourself with a verbal warning and a written warning before corrective action of major consequence is taken. If you drop out of high school you can always take your GED, if you don’t pass a college class you can retake it to improve your grade. All these are versions of the classic DO OVER.

In this blog we will be looking at how The DO OVER Principle is used every day to help us grow and better our situations in work, relationships, and life in general.