She sent me a message on Facebook, including a line in it that I still haven’t forgotten: “I admire that you accomplish the things you set out to accomplish.”
I didn’t agree. I couldn’t. I wanted to tell her, “That’s just because you don’t see all the times I’ve gone for things but failed.“
With that exchange in mind, this is the list of things I’ve failed, hence “the Failed list.” I’ll keep it updated as I add more to it, and adding more is a goal I’m actively aiming to achieve. For now…
When have I failed?
I failed to…
- Become a professional basketball player, dunk on a regulation rim, or make the game-winning shot when given the chance
- Complete 100 pushups in one set after attempting to work up to this, twice
- Keep a daily Marshallogue without interruption
- Become the “most marriable man” in 2010
- Accomplish any of my measurable goals for 2010
- CLEP out of any university courses, only even even attempting one (Chemistry)
- Pass my first college pop quiz in Spanish
- Create a sustainable business online in 2008-2010
- Find a job I liked in the United States right after graduating from college
- Set up a frequent flyer program while visiting my first 15 countries, missing out on multiple, paid, round-trip flight tickets
- Eat dog meat or (raw) horse meat while living in South Korea for over a year
- Bargain bungee jump
- Buy the ninja sword umbrella the first time I had the opportunity
- Raise $10,000 for my adoption fund in May, 2012
- Join Toastermasters after researching and decided it’s something I wanted to do and then sitting in the car outside as the meeting started, twice
- Write my memoir while living in South Korea for 13 months
- Correctly spell both my name and the word “teacher” on the whiteboard while being observed teaching a class for an ESL teaching credential
- Open a bank account that would allow me to receive international wire transfers for free with a good exchange rate policy… thus saving myself a couple thousand dollars over the course of my time in Saudi Arabia
- Learn Spanish in nine months (secret mission #3) while living in Saudi Arabia
- Complete the marathon I started
- Accumulate at least $20,000 in my Roth IRA by the time I turn 27
- Become General Manager at Sonitrol of Louisville
- Fail hard in the past