Freedom to Make Mistakes

The willingness to make mistakes is probably the single most freeing decision we can make. When you allow yourself to make mistakes, you free yourself from all constraints of seeking perfection and you open yourself up to all kinds of opportunities and possibilities.

Perfection is a limitation. Firstly because when you achieve perfection there is nowhere to go beyond that. Secondly we can become so conditioned to achieving perfection that we prevent ourselves from doing things and taking opportunities because we may ‘get it wrong’ or we might ‘not be good at it’.

“Better to do something imperfectly than it is to do nothing flawlessly” (Robert H. Schuller).

When you grant yourself willingness to make mistakes, you open the world up to you. You free yourself to attempt new things or to aim higher. You know that by allowing yourself to make mistakes, there is no emphasis on getting it right or doing it well. Instead, you create learning experiences that assist you to develop and to grow.

Are you waiting to be great at something before you will do it? Sounds ridiculous, but this is a genuine belief that holds people back. For example a common fear a lot of people have is public speaking. They fear that they will stand up in front of people and get it wrong. Even though they might be able to get their message out to far more people by public speaking, they will avoid doing it. Even if their job depends on it they will make every attempt to avoid it.

Yet how did all the great public speakers become great public speakers? They stood up and they spoke to audiences! They attempted it, learned what would make it better the next time, made the improvements and kept practicing.

“What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing”. (Aristotle).

Anyone who works in an office will be familiar with post-it notes. We use them for messages, we use them to mark pages in documents and we use them to highlight areas of information. The post-it note evolved as a result of a failed attempt to make glue. The glue would not stick permanently.

Imagine how different life would be if the only outcome you desired was to have fun doing it? What if, instead of focusing on doing it right, you just jumped in knowing that there is no failure only feedback?

If you permitted yourself to make 5 mistakes a day, what things might you now be attempting? What opportunities would open up before you?

What is more important getting it right, doing it well, or learning and growing?

Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Make learning and having fun your only outcome. n