Have you ever made a “confident” mistake?

Making mistakes confidently. I came upon this concept in a recent book and thought it was pretty interesting. After all, no one wants to make mistakes, right?   We don’t like to be wrong or look foolish, or have someone think we’re weak or stupid. So what is this idea of “making mistakes confidently”?

I was trying to think of examples of times when made mistakes confidently.  They were times when I was free to be wrong. That’s right—freed from having to be right.  When I’m trying to control the situation is when I feel the most unconfident making mistakes. I get tight in my mind and my body and try to make things happen rather than allowing them to happen.  There’s a vision of perfection in my head and nothing less will do. Paralyzed by perfection, I stifle creativity. Putting less energy into being perfect and more energy into just getting better at that moment would benefit me greatly. I can always improve later on, right?

How much of our creativity is stifled by our fear of making mistakes or our fear of being wrong? We’ve all heard that you can’t learn without making mistakes.  If that’s the case, perhaps we should embrace them more? Accept them (and ourselves) as reflections of whom and what we are becoming and allow things to happen rather than force them into the perfect (and unattainable) visions in our mind.

Now, I‘m not saying toss all caution to the wind. There are times in life when there is a right or wrong answer—in Algebra, for example. However, when you’re learning something new or you’re in a new situation, cut yourself some slack. Free yourself from your “perfect vision.” Go with the flow knowing that in the process of making mistakes confidently you’ll gain the skills to confidently correct your mistakes.