The Gift of a Mistake

I've always had perfectionist tendencies.

Not the kind that produces flawless work. The kind that can make starting difficult. The kind that notices every everything and occasionally mistakes "not perfect" for "not good."

Painting has been one of the best antidotes I've found.

When I'm working on a painting, there inevitably comes a moment when something goes wrong. My wife knows that moment well. It typically involves some kind of outburst because I feel that I've somehow ruined the piece.

But painting has taught me something important: Mistakes are only mistakes if you stop there.

The moment after the error is often more important than the error itself.

You can become discouraged and abandon the work. Or you can become curious.

You can ask yourself, "What can I do with it now?"

That shift changes everything.

Some of my favorite sections in paintings originated from something that wasn't part of the original plan. Sometimes a correction introduces a level of depth that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

The painting evolves.

Such is Life.

We all make decisions we'd like to revisit.

While the perfectionist mindset often treats these moments as evidence of failure, reality is usually more nuanced. Mistakes are going to happen.

The question is whether we become trapped by them.

Painting offers immediate feedback on this principle. The canvas doesn't care that the previous brushstroke was imperfect. It only responds to the next one.

The work continues.

The solution begins with whatever is already there. I've come to appreciate that mindset.

Perfectionism tends to focus attention on what went wrong. Creativity tends to focus attention on what comes next. One looks backward. The other looks forward.

That's not to say mistakes don't matter. They do. We learn from them. We adapt. We improve.

What’s next?