Well, it’s been busy around InventionLand the past few days. Next week we’ll open it up for a party with some select guests. It’ll be great to finally really show it off. So a lot is going on here at Davison Design.

Last week I was talking about innovation, failure and desire, three topics I spoke about with some students at Carnegie Mellon University not long ago. I think I’ll pick up where I left off.

Like I said before, Edison experimented with thousands of materials to use as a filament before he hit it right. He said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Now imagine failing 10,000 times. Where did he get that energy; where did he get that desire? Because it takes a strong desire to persevere in the face of failure, let alone repeated failure.

Here is what desire means to me: Daring, Education, Sacrifice, Ideation, Risk and Empowerment. You have to dare to change the world, educate yourself, be willing to make sacrifices, participate in ideation with the people you trust and those who trust you, be willing to take the risks necessary and empower yourself and others to execute this change.

A lot of people want to change the world. Some just want to be a part of the world, while others want to get dirty, get the work done and make a difference. People will say you’re wrong and people will say you’ll never change anything. You will have successes and you will have failures. You will be threatened. Some, depending on how powerful their goal is, may even face death. I don’t know who said it, but “great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” Everything that makes this country beautiful came from those willing to fight for change. Just look at our forefathers:

They invented a nation from a concept and established new methods of self-governance. They engaged in debate, because not everyone will agree with you. In fact, most won’t. They had resistors, you’ll have resistors. They had a desire to create their ideas, set goals and face obstacles. They brainstormed solutions, built models, tested models and improved on the ideas. They built the model, communicated it and, of course, they failed, stood up from where they fell and tried again.

There is never a revolution without risk. And risk often brings the threat of failure. But failure is not an end. It’s a beginning. Through failure you’ve learned what not to do, what you need to do, what opposing elements are stronger and why and how you overcome those elements.

So if failure is the mother of success then go out and fail, pick up the pieces, learn from it and create something great.