I failed.

Jake Woodhouse

— 2 min read
I failed.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic / Unsplash

Back on the 4th of June I set myself a very specific goal. A target. A dream. Something to really get stuck into. I said I would publish a book by the 2nd of July 2024. Well, drum roll please... The big reveal is finally upon us. I can feel the anticipation rising... Here we go! So, guess what? Did I achieve what I set out to do? No. Nope. Nada. A BIG FAT ZERO.... I've failed

"F*ck. Why am I so useless?" has been ringing around my head. The self-loathing amps up a bit. One starts to question why they even started in the first place. Which got me thinking... "Why am I doing this?" The answer springs to mind immediately: to learn. Then I got inspired to write this letter. Then I knew what I wanted to say. Then the creative fog clears for a moment. Let me explain.

Firstly, I actually loved the process of setting a goal, timeline, and consequence. Yes, I didn't deliver on the goal. Yes, the timeline proved far too optimistic. Yes, the consequences will be carried out. But what's cropped up along the way has already proven to be valuable.

These have been my biggest takeaways:

  • I enjoy writing
  • I am most creative first-thing in the morning
  • I want to create something excellent
  • Re-telling painful periods of my life is very cathartic
  • I can't not write about Bitcoin in some way
  • 30 days is not nearly enough time to write the book I envision
  • You need another 30 days on top of that to self-publish
  • Sharing your journey as a writer is good marketing in of itself
  • Asking your audience for feedback is fun
  • People are very willing to help you along the way
  • Writing is a forcing function for knowledge
  • You need to be very specific on the target audience
  • There will always be something to add
  • There will always be something you forget
  • There is no such thing as the perfect book
  • It's ok to fail
  • If you fail, you learn

As it stands, I have a second draft of the book, unfinished, with 16000 words written. It's a mess. It jumps around too much. It talks to too many people. It's not clear in terms of the 'progress journey' a reader goes on. I've had to re-visit niche area's of Austrian Economics. I've had to admit I was over-optimistic. I've had to admit failure.

But what I do know, is that in this madness there is a method forming. I can feel a book in there, somewhere, deeper down than I ever imagined. It wants to come out. It will come out. It is going to take a lot more time than 30 days.... And that's ok. I have the time. What I really want is to produce something of quality, not quantity. This is not a project to "just throw a book out there".

So, where does this leave me? Well I have some consequences to stomach. The first I am more than happy to do, which is a $500 aud donation of Bitcoin, to a Geyser project. The second is not so fun... I promised I would run naked on the street... F*ck... Really regretting the thought I had back in early June: "Give yourself a consequence you'll really hate".

Anyways, that's enough from me for now. Thank you for reading as always.

Best,

Jake "make failure your friend" Woodhouse

Ps - if you have a project you love that needs a donation, please reach out, it would be awesome to gift it to someone in this community

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