Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

From Wired via Michael Lebowitz:

1. Check Your Assumptions
Ask yourself why this result feels like a failure. What theory does it contradict? Maybe the hypothesis failed, not the experiment.

2. Seek Out the Ignorant
Talk to people who are unfamiliar with your experiment. Explaining your work in simple terms may help you see it in a new light.

3. Encourage Diversity
If everyone working on a problem speaks the same language, then everyone has the same set of assumptions.

4. Beware of Failure-​Blindness
It’s normal to filter out information that contradicts our preconceptions. The only way to avoid that bias is to be aware of it.