ReThinking: Ed Helms on growing through failure

What It Covers

Actor Ed Helms discusses his journey through comedy failures, from bombing at stand-up shows to navigating character challenges on The Office. He shares lessons from his podcast and book Snafu about historical mistakes, emphasizing how communities help comedians embrace failure, and reveals his unconventional method for building resilience through self-recorded pep talks.

Key Questions Answered

• •Building failure tolerance: Stand-up comedy creates resilience through repeated bombing experiences. Helms describes how veteran comedians high-five newcomers after terrible sets, creating shared bonds through difficult performances. This community approach transforms devastating experiences into growth opportunities, teaching performers to value failure as building calluses rather than viewing it as career-ending. The cohort effect makes painful moments manageable and necessary for development.
• •Finding your cohort first: Before pursuing unconventional careers, surround yourself with people who validate your aspirations. Helms kept his acting dreams internal as a child in Atlanta because nobody knew comedians or actors. Once in New York, finding peers who agreed comedy was awesome eliminated friction from doubters asking dismissive questions. This supportive environment proves more valuable than individual confidence when facing resistance to non-traditional career paths.
• •Self-distancing through video: Helms records multiple versions of himself giving situation-specific pep talks on his phone, adding inspirational background music. He watches these before high-pressure moments or after perceived failures to combat rumination. This technique provides the rational, supportive version of himself when caught up in current setbacks. The method works because seeing yourself offer encouragement creates psychological distance from immediate emotional reactions to failure or judgment.
• •Valuing mundane moments: The lesson from The Office's final line about knowing you're in the good old days applies to daily work life. Nostalgia builds from small, routine moments rather than big events. Helms recognized while filming that he was experiencing something special by appreciating ordinary production days. This mindfulness approach contrasts with flow states where deep absorption prevents awareness of enjoyment in the moment.
• •Group think prevention: Historical snafus like the 1950s plan to shoot the moon with nuclear missiles reveal how enclosed decision-making bubbles create catastrophic judgment. Carl Sagan worked on this project fresh from grad school. These failures share common patterns of polarization, overconfidence, lack of dissent, and homogeneous groups making decisions without questioning assumptions. Fear motivates both terrible and occasionally amazing judgment depending on diversity of perspectives involved.