Things I Failed At
During December I had a lot of time think. That’s never a good thing. I ended up with a little project to define my personal values. I want something I can write down and measure myself against. You know, kind of a like a corporate mission statement or values list, except for just me. I figured that I can’t ever be better unless I know what better means to me.
That project is still going but as a step along the way I came up with a list of my failures. I also figured that if I can name my failures then maybe that will help me define what success looks like. It’s just the other side of the coin.
This list is a little bit personal, but it’s probably not all that different from other well adjusted adults.1 It’s not weighted or organized with any priority. Many are conflicting. Adulting is hard.
- I spend too much on coffee
- I don’t play enough with my kid
- I don’t do enough nice things for my wife
- I’m too fat
- I don’t dress well
- I need to remind people that they do good work
- I don’t do enough charity
- I don’t save enough for the future
- I don’t work hard enough
- I don’t learn enough each week
- I’m not happy enough each day
- I don’t sleep enough
- I don’t clean my car very often
- I don’t exercise
- I don’t spend enough time day dreaming
- I don’t read enough
- I don’t make an effort to socialize
- I write too informally
- I use complicated words too often
- I focus on what’s wrong more than what’s right
- I don’t start with empathy often enough
- I don’t hang my clothes
- I don’t shave every day
- I need more music in my life
- I don’t make art often enough
- My hair is too unkempt
- I waste money on things I don’t need
- I don’t cook enough nice meals
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I extracted this straight from a Day One journal entry. It started as a musing and ended as something I think is really helpful. ↩︎