Fail fast. It’s advice that I received recently that some old dusty file cabinet in my brain vaguely also recalled as a chant of Silicon Valley tech developers. Their “fail fast, fail often” mantra of designing new technology seemed in direct opposition to the childhood mantra that played in my mind, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

So, which one is correct?

Whether you consider them coincidences, patterns, or synchronicities—I don’t ignore messages that reveal themselves over and over again. (Yeah, yeah. I know. Confirmation bias should be on that list too, but what fun is that?!) When my brain wakes me up at 4 am and starts connecting the dots and writing the words for me, the only thing I’m supposed to do is grab my laptop and my fuzzy blue bathrobe and listen.

Here’s how “Fail Fast” has shown up in recent weeks:

1. A woman sharing on social media about an emotionally abusive relationship she’s been in for the past five years, with a partner who sounds like a downright gremlin to her and her child. She was seeking advice on what to do.
2. Advice I received on a project that I loved and was hyped about, but didn’t pan out (yet!) as planned.
3. A meme about trains.

There were more examples, but my coffee maker doesn’t go off for another two hours. I am currently writing sans caffeine.

Read the full story on Substack at Reframe with Jillian Abby.