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The 7 Steps to Failure: A Proven Strategy to Have Several Failures in a Row

If you ask me for advice on how to succeed, I have no clue.

I failed at everything I tried in my life.

I started several projects. All failed.

My goal was to become free—traveling, writing, be a digital nomad, take pictures, enjoy life around beautiful people, be popular.

None of that happened. But I became the fat guy.

I had a couple of girlfriends. They left me because I was working all day. I didn’t travel, not much.

I wanted to create something great, like Mark Zuckerberg —Why did I watch that movie?. I was spending all my time trying to create the next Facebook, Airbnb... you know.

And you may think that I learned from my experiences. Nop. I did it again. And again. And again. Every time that I had a new idea —is still happening, help!— I think that’s THE IDEA, that’s the one that is going to change everything.

Never happened.

Let me explain to you how I did:

  • Get a job as a developer
  • Save around $10K
  • Spend between six months and a year coding
  • Test it
  • Zero results
  • Cry
  • Repeat

I can’t even remember how many times I did the same. But I know one thing. It was a disaster.

I was lucky enough to have a well-paid skill in programming so It was easy for me to find a new job —almost, I had some nightmares there too— but I never ever enjoyed working for others.

In the beginning, I thought It was programming, but with time I learned that I didn’t like to work for others. My motivation comes from within. Someone telling me what to do didn’t work for me, I am not that kind of person.

It’s really weird to me that I can work 16h a day for months each day but that I can’t do even an hour without hating myself for others. Am I alone with this?

So, if you want to have several failures in a row, here is your recipient to do it too. It doesn’t matter the circumstances, I guarantee if you follow these 7 steps, you can be like me and fail:

  • Get excited with an idea
  • Start it! (Much better if you spend 6/12 months working on it without talking to anyone)
  • Get excited with another idea
  • Leave your previous idea
  • Start the new one
  • Feel bad
  • Repeat

Now I am trying to build a career as a writer —just telling you that makes me laugh— but I already feeling lost about this —I wanted to put a link to the story here, but I didn’t write it yet, so I can’t. But you can join my newsletter and get it tomorrow. It’s about self-pity. You won’t get any value from it, but at least we can laugh together.

(Note that when I say laugh, I mean cry. Or both at the same time, that happened too).

If you follow my advice successfully, let me know. I want to take full credit for it.

  1. 2

    It’s really weird to me that I can work 16h a day for months each day but that I can’t do even an hour without hating myself for others. Am I alone with this?

    This resonates a lot with me.

    I think our kind of personality has its pros and cons.

    Pro: Extreme motivation. Self-direction.

    Con: You can miss out on many opportunities that originate from working for others.

    Many success stories come from people discovering pain points while they were working on corporate environments.

    Reflecting on my career, I kinda wish I had worked at least a few years in industry before attempting Indie Hacking.

    If my current venture fails, I will probably start freelancing to try to discover a huge pain point.

    1. 1

      Well,

      I worked for many many years, in many many companies. It didn't help me.

      But I think it's because I felt miserable working for others, so my brain was close to ideas.

      I learned many things, that's for sure, but in terms of having success, didn't help me ... yet!

  2. 1

    It's better to have tried and failed than to live life wondering what would've happened if I had tried. - Alfred Lord Tennyson.

    The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. - Deborah Moggach

    My friend, there's one thing you didn't fail at -- and that's writing an engaging post. Comical self-loathing, nicely done.

    Failure is tricky and deceiving.

    Taking a risk is not failing. Yet we feel like a failure if our creation doesn't achieve the milestone we envision it to reach.

    Ask yourself -- out of 100 people, how many would have had the courage to start as many projects as you did? Very few, if any.

    The things I look at as failures, others would consider successes. Yet, I still feel they are failures, because I did not achieve what I expected to achieve.

    It's vicious & f#cks with my head all the time. But it also drives me at the same time.

    I have such high expectations of myself. Yet I don't know if I'll ever feel content with whatever professional achievements I attain.

    Spent the last 12+ years building stuff that really didn't bring me true joy. So, at 52, I'm starting over entirely. Maybe that's a failure, maybe not.

    One thing is for sure, I learned a ton, and grew as a human being.

    For that, I'm thankful.

    I also try to remind myself of something -- my worst day is considerably better than many people's best day. So, I need to be thankful of the blessings I'm given.

    I'm actually writing this for myself :)

    1. 1

      I'm actually writing this for myself :)

      And for me!

      Thanks a lot for appreciating my article. That felt super great.

      Please, keep going. I can feel passion for what you do. You may have some failures as I had, but we need to keep trying, learning, and writing about it!

      Have a fantastic day, and thanks very, very much for your comment!

      1. 1

        💯

        You have a great day too. This was fun.

  3. 1

    Amen! Failure is a stepping stone towards success :)

    1. 1

      It feels more like a rock—a big big one.

    2. 1

      This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

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