The Failure List

Tim Ferriss is known for asking his guests, "Do you have a favourite failure?"

It might sound like a strange question. But if you ask most successful people, they’ll probably have a favourite failure. It's because they understand this one thing about failure. They've learnt to reframe them.

There's a simple trick that can help you reframe your failures.

It's called the Failure List.

Here's how to do it:

Grab a notebook or open your notes app and do this:

1. Make a note of your failure or disappointment and leave 2 lines blank under it.

2. Come back to the failure after 1 month and write down 1 thing you learnt from it.

3. Come back 3 months later and write a good thing that happened because of it.

I learnt about this after listening to Arthur Brook, the professor of happiness, on the Rich Roll podcast.

We often view the bad things that happen to us in isolation.

When we're in the eye of the storm it can be hard to find the silver lining in the bad things that happen to us.

The failure list changes this.

Every time you come back to the list you see the failure in a new light. Instead of seeing it isolation, you start to see the ripple effect each one has in your life. You see how you're life can benefit from the bad as well as the good. After a few months the list helps you notice how the failure led to success.

Eventually, you stop fearing failure. You look forward to it. Ready and waiting. Because you learn that each failure is directing you towards a success.

Try it yourself.

Start your own failure list.

You can use a notebook or a note app. Use something that's easy access. Make a note of a recent failure or disappointment. Follow the above process and see what you discover.

Feel free to share what you find in the comments or by replying to this email.