How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong

by Elizabeth Day

We can be angry. We can be honest about it. And we can use it as fuel, motherfuckers.

think people strive too much for things, thinking it will make them happy when in actual fact it doesn’t come from that. If you are happy inside, all that stuff [fame and money] is incredibly fun.

Whether someone else determines your work as successful or unsuccessful is ultimately simply an opinion generated by that person’s own experiences, expertise and set of assumptions. Living your life according to what everyone else might think of you is to cede control of who you are. It is to outsource your identity to a bunch of strangers who do not know you. Which is why I now try to remind myself only to care about the people I love, the people who count, or the people whose judgement I trust and respect because they know what they’re talking about.

As much as possible, I tune into and follow my own instinct. Gut feelings, I find, are almost always right.

The older I get, the more I realise that success only feels good when it is congruent with who you really are.