---
name: my-failure-museum
description: "Turn a mistake into a reusable lesson — a short, unsentimental 'here's what happened and the rule so it doesn't happen again' entry you can actually keep. Use when asked help me learn from this mistake, I keep making the same error, capture this lesson, or turn this failure into something useful. Produces an honest, blame-free autopsy of what happened, the real root cause (not the surface one), the specific rule or trigger that prevents a repeat, and a one-line entry for your growing 'failure museum' — because unexamined mistakes repeat and examined ones compound into wisdom."
---

# My Failure Museum

A mistake you don't examine is one you'll make again; a mistake you turn into a rule never costs you twice. This does the turning: a short, honest, blame-free autopsy of what went wrong, the *real* root cause underneath the obvious one, and the specific rule or trigger that stops the repeat — captured as a one-line entry for a growing collection. Over time, your failure museum becomes your hardest-won operating manual.

## What This Skill Produces

- **The honest autopsy** — what actually happened, blame-free (self-flagellation teaches nothing; analysis does)
- **The real root cause** — the underlying reason, not the surface one ("I was busy" → "I don't build in buffer time")
- **The prevention rule** — a specific, actionable rule or trigger that would have caught it, and will next time
- **The one-line museum entry** — a compact, keepable lesson to add to your collection
- **A pattern check** — whether this is a one-off or part of a recurring theme worth a bigger fix

## Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:
- **What happened** — the mistake or failure
- **The consequence** — what it cost
- **Your read on why** — your first explanation (we'll dig past it)
- **Has it happened before** — to spot a pattern

## Framework: Autopsy Without Blame, Extract The Rule

1. **Examine, don't flagellate.** Approach it like an investigator, not a judge — blame shuts down learning; curiosity opens it.
2. **Dig past the surface cause.** "I forgot" or "I was busy" is rarely the real cause — find the system or habit underneath ("no reminder system," "I over-commit").
3. **Extract a specific rule.** Convert the root cause into an actionable rule or trigger ("before saying yes, check the calendar"; "always CC myself"). Vague resolutions don't work; specific rules do.
4. **Write the one-liner.** Compress it into a single memorable entry for the museum — short enough to actually reread.
5. **Check the pattern.** If this echoes past failures, name the recurring theme — that's the higher-leverage fix.

## Output Format

### Failure: [what happened] · cost: [consequence]

**Autopsy (blame-free):** [what actually happened].
**Real root cause:** [the underlying system/habit, past the surface].
**Prevention rule:** [specific, actionable rule or trigger].
**📓 Museum entry (one line):** "[compact lesson]."
**Pattern?** [one-off / part of a recurring theme → the bigger fix].

## Quality Checks
- [ ] The autopsy is honest but blame-free
- [ ] It digs past the surface cause to the real one
- [ ] The prevention is a specific rule/trigger, not a vague resolution
- [ ] It produces a compact, keepable one-line entry
- [ ] It checks whether this is part of a pattern

## Anti-Patterns
- **Self-flagellation** dressed as reflection.
- **Stopping at the surface cause** ("I was careless").
- **A vague resolution** ("I'll be more careful") instead of a rule.
- **Missing the recurring pattern.**

## Example Trigger Phrases
- "I messed up — help me actually learn from it."
- "I keep making the same mistake. Why, and how do I stop?"
- "Turn this failure into a lesson I'll remember."
- "Do a blame-free post-mortem on my screw-up."
- "Add this to my list of lessons — what's the rule?"