“Taking the time to learn from what went wrong is often the most cringe-inducing aspect of intelligent failure. Not all of us can remain as cheerful as Thomas Edison. You’re not alone if you feel disappointed or embarrassed, and it’s easy to want to push those feelings away. That’s why it’s important to reframe and resist blame and push yourself to be curious. It’s natural to fall prey to self-serving analysis—“I was right, but someone in the lab must have altered something”—which takes us away from discovery. But a true desire to learn from failure forces us to confront facts more fully and rationally. You’ll also want to avoid superficial analysis—“It didn’t work. Let’s try something else”—which generates random rather than considered action. Finally, avoid the glib answer “I’ll do better next time,” which circumvents real learning. What’s necessary is to stop and think carefully about what went wrong so as to inform the next act.”