Afraid of making mistakes? Discover why doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing and how mistakes become your greatest teachers.
The Worst Thing
Theodore Roosevelt once said:
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Have you ever procrastinated on doing something simply because you were afraid of making it worse?
Be OK With Making Mistakes
We need to be willing to make mistakes, not give up, and not be afraid. Fear is one of the biggest obstacles to making progress in our lives.
Fear Steals Inspiration
This happens to me all the time in many different situations, but in this article I’ll refer specifically to my sewing projects. Sometimes I know there is no way back—once I cut the fabric, I can’t reverse it. So I wait for an indefinite amount of time because I am afraid of making a mistake. As a result, I end up doing nothing. In some cases, after waiting too long, I even lose the inspiration to continue and finish the project.
But the truth is that my mistakes have rarely been so serious that I couldn’t fix them or had to abandon the project. Most of the time, even if I do something wrong, as long as I have the motivation to keep going, I find a way to correct it and finish what I started.
Keep Practicing
With practice, I have also learned to make fewer mistakes in my sewing projects. But if I hadn’t persevered—if I hadn’t kept sewing—I would never have learned how to avoid many of those mistakes. And that is such a valuable skill.
Which One Is Worse?
So which is worse, and which is better? Doing what you wanted to do and making a mistake, or doing nothing and avoiding mistakes altogether?
Making a mistake is better because, just like with my sewing projects, you can almost always correct your mistakes as you keep moving forward. And only through practice can you eliminate most of them.
Learn Your Lessons
Along the way, you’ll also learn something you didn’t know before. Those lessons are incredibly valuable. But if you do nothing, you won’t learn anything. A year later, or five years later, or even ten years later, you’ll still be in the same place: no mistakes, no achievements, no victories, and nothing learned. Low risk, but also very little growth.
Try New Things
I know this because I used to be like that. And in some areas of my life, I still am. I have to be intentional, overcome my fear, and remind myself not to be afraid to try new things—even if that means making mistakes.
Let’s have the courage to do the things we dream about. Let’s not allow fear to control our lives or steal the victories that could have been ours.
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