You Can Do Better (Than Me). Episode 0: Failure

My name is Diego Mathé, and this is the story of how sometimes you need to lose it all to become your best self.

Let's start somewhere.

A few years ago, I started a company called Youlosophy. We published personalized self-development journals and books, all designed to help people become the best version of themselves over the course of 21 days. It failed miserably. But don’t worry—we’ll come back to that later.

Our content was backed by neuroscientists, psychologists, and other wellness experts. We commissioned articles and guides to make sure people got the best, science-based advice. Meanwhile, I had an itch to contribute to the subject myself. But I didn’t have the credentials or the experience to churn out content in the same way those experts did, so I took a backseat. I figured it was best to leave the writing to the professionals.

Did it make a difference? Not at all. The company still went under.

And that’s not all. I also missed an invitation to meditate in India with a group of highly respected spiritual leaders (why they invited me in the first place is still a mystery). And then there’s the story about my trip to Vienna, where I spent an entire week obsessing over a Facebook ad campaign that wasn’t performing. It could have been worse—I could have ruined a week-long vacation with my kids in Valencia, but yeah, I did that too.

Every day at work, I would scroll through the hundreds of messages we received from people looking for advice or wanting to share their stories. Sometimes, I’d get brave enough to write something myself. After all, I have a background in journalism. But still, I didn’t let my real voice shine through. I didn’t think anyone would care about my experiences. And then—predictably—we shut down.

I looked around and barely recognized my own life. It wasn’t just the failed project; it was everything else that was surfacing all at once, like the climax of a zombie apocalypse film. Spoiler: I did survive. And not only that, I came to understand why those “zombies” were haunting me. It turns out, I had conjured them myself.

What followed was an understanding that failure was not only inevitable but necessary. I learned the lessons that life was trying to teach me, albeit a bit too late in the game.

This brings me to the point of this blog. My 11-year-old son often hears me say that we only grow through mistakes. That leads me to believe I must be an expert by now. My life has certainly been full of them. So, I decided to write this blog—You Can Do Better (Than Me)—based on the credentials of my past, present, and undoubtedly future mistakes.

I’m no celebrity, so let’s not pretend my anecdotes are extraordinary. But I think they can be useful. I’ll talk about soft skills like patience, authenticity, tolerance, and how I’ve struggled with them. I’ll share my failures, hoping you can find something in them that resonates. And if I sound condescending, pretentious, or if I take serious matters lightly—please forgive me. After spending over two years convinced that I had nothing to offer, I’m finally embracing the idea that my failures might actually help someone.

Or at least, they’ll make for an entertaining read.