Have you ever made a mistake?

If you answered yes, then good.  You’re a human.

If you answered no, then you’re either conceited, a liar, or some kind of machine.

Mistakes are good.  Yes, you heard me.  I did just say that.

But why?  Think about it.  When you’re working towards a finished product, mistakes are necessary to get to the next step.  If you are fixated on having a finished product on your first draft, you will not make any progress.  Make a mistake and move on.  Get something out there.  It’s better to have a mistake then to have no product at all.

If you look at the most successful people in history, a lot of them made numerous failures.  They failed a lot before they become very successful.  Success is built on many failures, so you will be making a few mistakes before you get there.

I can vouch for my own mistakes.  On a lot of my entries, I can’t tell you how many times that I found a mistake that I had to correct after I posted it.  The important thing is that it got posted.  The mistakes can be corrected later.  Preferably as soon as possible when you detect them.  So I make mistakes and I revise them later.  Are my mistakes intentional?  Absolutely not!  For most people, no one really intends to make a mistake.  It just happens.  And when you do in writing, you go back and correct them.

So the next time someone asks you about a mistake, tell them that mistakes are good.  Although they’re not really that desirable, they’re an opportunity to improve.  Many successful people have made mistakes, and now it’s your turn.  Make that mistake if you can.  And if it doesn’t happen, good job!  But if it does (and it usually does), don’t be too hard on yourself.  Mistakes are building blocks to success and each one of them will help you get there.

See you next week!

Your friend in writing,

Kyle