Fail Fast, Pivot With Purpose, And Learn From Every Fall

There is a strange truth I have learned through experience rather than theory. Some of the best things in your life only happen because something else fails. It does not feel like that when you are in the middle of it. When things fall apart it feels heavy and personal. It feels like you have lost control and lost direction. But when you look back, you realise that those moments were the turning points. The places where life quietly redirected you toward something better.

Over the years I have had to fail fast, pivot quickly, and accept truths I did not want to face. And looking back now, I can see how each of those moments built me rather than broke me.

When Covid hit, it felt like the foundation of the entire hospitality industry collapsed overnight. We shared a backyard with the neighbours on both sides and that space had always been a forgotten corner of the building. Just a utility area. But then both neighbours left during Covid. The yard was suddenly empty except for us. At the time it felt like another problem added to an already exhausting list, but in reality it was the beginning of something new.

We asked the landlord if we could use that yard as outdoor seating. It seemed like a stretch, but he agreed. We then managed to take the space off the other leases entirely and add it to ours with sole usage rights. That small forgotten yard became a lifeline. It carried us through the toughest period the business had ever faced. What looked like a setback became the opportunity that kept us alive.

That is what failing fast often looks like. Not a dramatic crash. Just a moment where you say this is not working and I need to move now. The quicker you respond, the quicker you discover the path forward.

The same principle carried into our move to the new venue. Different kitchen, different system, and inherited Christmas bookings before we had even reopened. There were unknowns everywhere and it would have been easy to pretend everything was fine and hope for the best. But hope is not a strategy. Failing fast was. We chose to face problems immediately. We communicated openly. We adapted quickly. That is what prevented small issues from becoming serious ones. When you fail fast you learn fast, and that is the difference between surviving a transition and being crushed by it.

Then there was the hardest kind of failure, the kind that asks for honesty rather than speed. Accepting that the ten year venue was no longer right for us. That space had been a part of my identity for so long that letting it go felt like failure. It felt like grief. Like admitting defeat. But the moment I accepted the truth, everything began to open. The emotional weight lifted. The excitement returned. The energy changed. Moving was not failure at all. It was freedom. And without that acceptance, none of what is happening now would have been possible.

Failure is rarely the end. It is more often the beginning. It shows you what you need to see long before success ever will. It pushes you into the next stage of your growth even when you resist it. And it teaches you what your comfort would never let you learn.

Fail fast when something is not working.

Pivot when life redirects you.

Accept failure when it is honest.

And celebrate the small wins because they are the stepping stones that carry you forward.

Some of the best chapters in my life only happened because something else fell apart first.

When you understand that, failure stops feeling like the enemy and starts becoming the guide.