A Reminder to Self: Always Make New Mistakes!

Creativity has no rules, but if there were any rules, this would be my Rule Number 1: Always Make New Mistakes.

Many years ago, when I was struggling with paralyzing perfectionistic tendencies, I got a fridge magnet with this quote by Esther Dyson, meant as a reminder for myself. One of my biggest regrets till then was that I had played it too safe, that I had been too afraid of making mistakes in my life. So, my new mantra was: Make more mistakes.

Try new things. Experiment. Risk failing.

This fridge magnet was a little symbol for a new self I was trying to birth.

Over the years, whenever I had visitors staying over or when friends came over to our place, it was interesting to see how different people reacted to this quote.

For some people, it reminded them of how they weren’t allowed to make any mistakes or promptly blamed when something went wrong. They wished their bosses at work or family members could truly understand and apply this quote.

Someone else thought this quote meant that you should never make the same mistake twice. The emphasis was on making “new” mistakes. Learn from past mistakes. Try new things. Correct your path.

Some other people were completely taken aback by this quote. Make mistakes? Really? Why would anyone have a quote saying you needed to make “mistakes” stuck on their fridge? Weren’t you supposed to avoid all mistakes?

It was interesting to see how these same words meant such different things to different people.

For some people, these were positive words. For others, disturbing ones. They reminded some of choice. They reminded others of how important it was to either never make a mistake or to put on a facade of being perfect.

As for me, this quote talks of the one thing I have learned that is basic to being creative. It reminds me that when you write, you won’t get everything right the first time. You have to have a high tolerance for “mistakes.” But a first or second draft is not a “mistake.” It’s actually an exploration. It’s drawing a rough sketch to try to find what exactly you want to say.

All the “mistakes,” the “errors,” the wrong turns, all of them are helping you find the right way.

There are no mistakes. Always make new mistakes.

Because mistakes show us where the line ends, where we can stop, how much further we can go. Mistakes tell us what works and what doesn’t. Mistakes are experiments.

As a recovering perfectionist, I needed this reminder again today. I needed to tell myself this one more time, and I thought you might need it as well.

There are no mistakes. Except attempting nothing.

Ritu Kaushal is the author of the memoir The Empath’s Journey, which combines personal experiences from her own life with insights from depth psychology to give empaths more tools to channel their gifts.

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