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Pilot Fire

Pilot Fire

Tools, Fuel, & Steering Instructions
to Make a Life You Believe In

Start Here
  • Start Here
  • Tools
  • Fuel
  • Steering Instructions
  • +
  • Roles
  • Goals
  • Plans
  • +
  • Balance
  • Passion
  • Flow
  • Yay, I Failed!
  • About
  • Contact

Yay, I Failed!

Yay, I Failed!
Many people have trouble with the word failure because they link the act of failure to the person: I failed; therefore, I’m a failure. I’d like us to re-appropriate the term. Try this one on:

Failure is finding out what doesn’t work.

It’s our job to try something hard, maybe fail, reflect, try something else. What you don’t want to do is never fail. If you never fail, you aren’t doing anything difficult or interesting. “Yay, I failed!” stands in for the celebration “Yay, I tried something hard!”

More Articles about Yay, I Failed!

Get Lost in New York City, or Just Get Lost

My first day in Brooklyn I tote my iPhone from block to block consulting it for restaurant recommendations, checking the routes to the cafe where I plan to start writing this article, and then mapping out the gigs I’ll be playing with my choir. I traverse Bedford Ave several times, tuning my evening’s plans by

read on ...

When to Drag ‘m, When to Drop ‘m.

  My Love— We’re together forever it seems. We know how good we are for each other. You love my ambition, and I revel in the peace you bring me each day. Run with me this time. Don’t stay at home in your ethereal daydreams and your sad safe bliss and your fresh cut tomatoes

read on ...

Are You Facing Big Change?

I’m going through one of the biggest changes in my life, and I’m kinda scared. I’m losing my home, my wife, my business partner, and the community I built around my beautiful household. I’m not afraid of what will happen next. I’m a little concerned about finding a decent place where my daughter and I

read on ...

Get Out of Doubt: Three Steps

Unrelenting Doubt, like disproportional Debt, is paralyzing. It’s worth making it a high priority to get out of Doubt as quickly as possible. A Pilot Fire dabbler sent me a note a while back: “I am stuck— I live in my head. I have lots of ideas and lots of things I want to do,

read on ...

Three Hard Things I’m Trying to Do

In the category of “Yay, I failed!” I am pursuing some difficult goals this year, and I expect failure along the way. If you are trying something difficult, I offer you the advice I am giving myself. Get help from people you respect (and like). Take small clear steps. Make sure the process is one

read on ...

You Will Never Achieve Balance, So Why Try?

Ever feel out of Balance? In a culture with too many choices, too many demands, and too much to possibly do, it’s a very common experience. Balance is something many people say they want, I think mostly because feeling out of Balance is so uncomfortable. Roller coasters are okay, for some people, sometimes, but only when we

read on ...

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Pilot Fire is the energy you put into steering your life.

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