Life · Collection guide · 5 stops
Find a way through setbacks
Use this route after a setback, when both encouragement and ‘just work harder’ advice feel incomplete. Begin with the possibility of renewal, move to a next action, then examine rebuilding and the conditions that make another attempt possible. The later examples complicate a simple success story rather than promising a triumphant ending.
Browse this collection in reading order →Suggested routes through material saved to explore. I haven’t read or watched everything here yet. The order and prompts are editorial suggestions based on available source text, excerpts, descriptions and synopses; they are not personal ratings or claims of completed viewing.
Separate the setback from the whole person
Gardner’s address considers renewal, curiosity and the limits people place on themselves. Start here to ask what can still grow when one role, plan or outcome has disappointed you.
Pause & try
Name what was lost or failed as specifically as possible. Then list two parts of your life or ability that the outcome does not settle.
Find the next available move
Horowitz’s business-crisis essay directs attention toward action. Read it after making room for the setback, so its bluntness becomes a tool for finding a move rather than dismissing what happened.
Pause & try
Separate what needs acknowledgment from what needs action. Choose one action within your control that would make tomorrow slightly easier.
Watch someone rebuild the work
Comedian follows the work of developing comedy and provides a concrete study of starting again. Look for the distance between a public performance and the uncertain process that produces it.
Pause & try
Which part of your next attempt needs small, low-stakes repetitions? Design a practice version that can be imperfect in front of a limited audience.
Account for the ability to try again
The Privilege of Failure prompts a check on resources and circumstances. Place it here to question the idea that everyone can absorb the same setback or simply choose the same level of risk.
Pause & try
What time, money, support or permission would another attempt require? Name one gap to address before increasing the stakes.
Let an unsuccessful project teach you
General Magic offers a company story in which ambition and invention do not produce a straightforward commercial victory. Use it to consider what can remain valuable when the original plan does not work.
Pause & try
List what you would carry forward from your setback: a skill, relationship, insight or piece of work. What would you deliberately leave behind?
After the five stops
Take it into your own life.
Write a short restart plan: the smallest next attempt, the support it needs, the limit on what you will risk and a date to reconsider. Continuing and changing direction are both options; judge them against your circumstances rather than the shape of somebody else’s story.
Continue exploring
Items 1–5 are the guided route above. The remaining items are listed alphabetically below; choose what interests you next. These numbers match the collection shelf.
- “I loved every minute of it, however hard it had been” → Find on the shelf: “I loved every minute of it, however hard it had been” →
- An old mans advice. → Find on the shelf: An old mans advice. →
- Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father → Find on the shelf: Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father →
- Deep Water → Find on the shelf: Deep Water →
- Dog Story - Scott Adams → Find on the shelf: Dog Story - Scott Adams →
- Hoop Dreams → Find on the shelf: Hoop Dreams →
- If Charlie Munger Didn’t Quit When… - Joshua Kennon → Find on the shelf: If Charlie Munger Didn’t Quit When… - Joshua Kennon →
- Jerry Seinfeld’s advice → Find on the shelf: Jerry Seinfeld’s advice →
- Michael Jordan to the Max → Find on the shelf: Michael Jordan to the Max →
- Michael Jordan’s Wisdom → Find on the shelf: Michael Jordan’s Wisdom →
- Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement → Find on the shelf: Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement →
- The Real Heroes Are Dead → Find on the shelf: The Real Heroes Are Dead →
- The Salt of the Earth → Find on the shelf: The Salt of the Earth →
- Tiger → Find on the shelf: Tiger →
- Top 10 Life Lessons - Robert Joss → Find on the shelf: Top 10 Life Lessons - Robert Joss →
- What Truly Determines Your Future - Jim Rohn Seminar → Find on the shelf: What Truly Determines Your Future - Jim Rohn Seminar →
- When We Were Kings → Find on the shelf: When We Were Kings →