Make Mistakes. But With Good Intentions.
Making mistakes.
Mistakes are a something that should be celebrated.
They reflect an earnest eagerness to learn.
To try something new and different.
Now the caveat, is I’m speaking specifically about earnest mistakes, not intentional, malicious errors or lack of effort.
The way our society talks about mistakes though does not celebrate that progress though. We are reprimanded for mistakes. We are deemed incompetent. We are seen as less-than or a screw up.
The reason is because outsiders don’t see us relative to who we were in the past. They compare us to the best representative instead of a former version of ourselves.
People are deemed bad at basketball by comparison to NBA pros.
Medical residents are deemed bad at surgery by comparison to world-renowned surgeons.
And I get it, there are some situations where mistakes can be the matter of life or death. There are mistakes where the stakes are far too great.
But we treat all mistakes equally. As unacceptable.
This creates a societal view of mistakes as detrimental, avoid-at-all-costs and ultimately that shapes our view of mistakes as must-avoid’s.
I would argue that a majority of mistakes are times to learn, time to grow, and should be celebrated.
They reflect a courage to try. And a courage to try should always be celebrated. We celebrate the story of triumph after struggle. But without persistence in the struggle (aka the moment of mistake), the triumph cannot happen.
They reflect a moment to grow. Mistakes humble us. They remind us that we are flawed, that there is room to grow, and that we don’t always know best. In those moments, support from others, patience with oneself and kindness to forgive are extremely valuable.
And of course people theoretically understand this. Of course, people theoretically understand that mistakes are the means to progress.
But in a world where everyone puts their best foot forward, their feed is tailored to display their most perfect self, there’s means to hide imperfections, words hidden to sweep the flaws under the rug, And everyone wants to believe they are above normal - that we have an illusory superiority bias.
So we expect ourselves to be better, to not make mistakes, to improve in a linear trajectory that defies the norm.
So this is simply a reminder. And a praise.
You might have screwed something up today.
Good for you.
You had the courage to do it.
You had the insight to recognize it was a mistake.
And you have the breathing room to try again.
We must learn to embrace mistakes and see them for what they truly are. Moments in time. Not a death sentence. Not a predeterminer for future success. Simply a hiccup in the road to progress. A wrong turn or pit stop on one’s journey.
And one that has value.