Iteration and Duffer's Drift

Joe Carter is an evangelical that writes on the First Things blog "First Thoughts". Last week he posted a list of the most influential books in his life. It was fun to have been influenced by some of the same books (Schaeffer, Johnson, Hewitt, Sire, Postman, Grudem), and to be reminded of some that I've been wanting to get around to for a while (Card, Sobol, Wolfe).

One on the list, "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" is available online. It appears it is recommended reading for US Marines. Being relatively short, and wanting to see what kind of stuff Marines read, I started in. While it started slowly and in a style of writing I'm not accustomed, to read the first "dream" (there are six of these dreams that function as chapters) quickly requires the curious reader to continue on through the next five. In short: A green (unexperienced) military commander has a dream where he is given the task of defending a position from the attacking enemy. Each dream is a record of his attempts to do so and the things he learns each time in failure, with each lesson building upon the previous one.

As I read it, I realized how important iteration is in any undertaking. As much as I want to get things right the first time, often times the best path towards victory is to try and fail. Learn from the mistakes. Try again. Learn more. Repeat. Eventually, the victory will be won.

Do I iterate in my job? Do I let one failure stop me? Or do I learn from the failure and try again? Ministry, relationships, support raising, projects...do I learn from my mistakes, or just quit because of them? As an engineering graduate who appreciates mathematical terms with practical implications, I lift my glass high and propose a toast: "To Iteration!" Hear, hear!