"It's okay to make mistakes."
You’ve heard this again and again, ever since preschool. But do you ever believe it’s really true?
We wish to defy the norm and be that person that does, in fact, never have the challenge of making a mistake. We’re scared of being wrong. Bamn. I said it! I am scared of being wrong. And I hate to tell you but you are too. |
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The fear of making a mistake hinders your ability to be creative. Just ask Ken Robinson or The Harvard Business Review. You need to somehow ditch this innate fear in order to reach your full creative potential. Some of the world’s greatest treasures were created by accident.
I’m no superhuman so I can’t quite tell you how to never fear, but I can share a story with you and try to help. |
My Barbie Story
Picture a rainy day in California’s Bay Area. I, at age 10, am in the “playroom” my sister and I shared throughout our youth. I am doing none other than my favorite thing- playing with Barbie dolls. When I say play however, I mean much, much more. I mean sew clothes from fabric scraps around the house, build houses from old cereal boxes, and the ultimate Barbie activity: dye and cut the beautiful locks of my dolls.
My sister and I were engaging in our favorite game of Barbie barbershop when with one wrong swipe of the scissors, our doll’s hair was destroyed. There was panic. There was anger. There was the realization that the hair would, in fact, never grow back. |
Then the creativity kicked in. Our barbershop turned into a wig shop within the hour. We discovered that by cutting small amounts of hair from a large selection of Barbies, everyone would still look unblemished and we could gather enough hair to create a beautiful wig made from hot glue and melted plastic Barbie Hair. With a black sharpie to make all the hair colors uniform, the creation was complete.
There, at age 10, I had not only turned a tragedy into a small wig retail shop in Barbieland, but I had turned a disaster into a creation and a mistake into something amazing.
There, at age 10, I had not only turned a tragedy into a small wig retail shop in Barbieland, but I had turned a disaster into a creation and a mistake into something amazing.
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I know at the beginning I said you hear “it’s okay to make mistakes” time and time again and never believe it’s true.
But what if at some point you did believe it? I mean remember back in elementary school when everything was an adventure. A mistake was an opportunity and frankly you couldn’t care less about failure. You we’re going to swing as high as you could on that swing and if your painting turned out awful – oh well you would just try again. |
So I dare you. Do something wrong. Then make it better. The best creativity comes from failure; just ask the creator of post-it notes, the pacemaker, or penicillin.