Bret Taylor
The Second Shot
Inspired by Bret Taylor episode
Bret Taylor: best teams learn from failure faster. Not because they fail less - they take the second shot better. Parenting is second shots.
Bret Taylor noticed something: great product teams don't fail less than everyone else. They fail at the same rate. The difference? The second shot. When something fails, average teams spiral. Great teams treat it as data and try again, better.
Parenting is nothing but second shots.
This morning you lost it over shoes. Full-volume screaming at a person who doesn't understand velcro yet. Then you spiraled for hours imagining therapy bills while they forgot in 90 seconds. The bedtime routine lasted one night. The consequence made no sense and now you're enforcing "no dessert for a week" which punishes you more than them.
You don't need to nail the first shot. You need to take the second one before the shame spiral reaches your LinkedIn bio. You yelled? Repair it at lunch. "I messed up." Routine failed? Try something else tonight. That's not inconsistency. That's learning.
The best parents fail, shrug, and try again without journaling about it for six pages first.
