The benefits of making mistakes in the creative process.
In the world of creativity, making mistakes is often perceived as negative, a sign of incompetence or failure.
However, the truth is quite the opposite.
Making mistakes is essential for creativity to thrive.
It is through mistakes that we learn, grow, and discover new avenues of imagination. When we allow ourselves to make mistakes, we free our minds from the fear of failure and open ourselves up to experimentation and innovation.
Mistakes provide us with invaluable lessons and insights, helping us develop new skills and approaches to problem-solving. To emphasize the vital role of mistakes in the creative process, renowned painter Pablo Picasso once said, “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”
In other words, mistakes are simply stepping stones on the path to creativity. Embracing mistakes not only nurtures artistic endeavors but also fosters a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptability.
It encourages us to think outside the box, take risks, and push the boundaries of what is known and comfortable. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why making mistakes is essential for creativity, and how it can unlock unlimited potential for growth and innovation. Join me as we delve into the fascinating world where errors become opportunities.
“Perfect people do not fight, do not lie, do not make mistakes and do not exist.”(Aristotle)
Getting it wrong.
In many cases it may even be desirable for a creative person.
When you’re focused and feel the flow going through you: that easy glide of words, of colors, of music, of your favorite hobby.
What do you do?
You continue relentlessly, because you are afraid of losing the magic moment.
And you err.
Because you’ve pulled too hard and risk running out of steam, being repetitive, losing your clarity.
Getting it wrong then can be a wake-up call, telling you to recharge, to disconnect, to rest.
Getting it wrong then can be instrumental in changing your strategy.
Even if you feel you have a masterpiece in your hands STOP (and it almost always happens at night and the next morning you trash everything or almost everything, guaranteed).
Sleep, eat, laze, disconnect.
It will be a gym to find your habits. You will find that getting up at five in the morning to write will be your way, or at ten at night.
Mistakes are experiments.
Take them as a course adjustment.
Start by imitating someone you admire.
If Mr. X did it, I can do it too.
But maybe Mr. or Mrs. X eats meat for breakfast and you are a vegetarian, he/she walks at seven in the morning while you do it at nine at night to feel good.
This can serve you in general for your personal life.
Understanding what foods give you energy, when to eat, when to move, how much to work, when to read, what characteristics a person must have to be interesting to you, when to exercise, etc., will be a way to know yourself well, live better and create more.
It makes me very sad who does not consider that as age changes, habits change.
As a college student, I lived at night.
I studied, I went out with friends. I slept little, grinded knowledge, make exam, ate when I remembered, lived always under stress.
As an adult to create I need to sleep more, concentrate in blocks of work and curb going out.
Was I wrong before, am I wrong today?
There is no mistake in changing your life when your body, work, friends, social relationships also change.
But realizing the changes, the new things we like or dislike, is an important exercise.
Try to imagine that you are facing a person you admire (it must be an extremely important name, a lighthouse in your life, almost unreachable).
Start telling him or her what you like and dislike, what you would like, what you would change, what regrets you have, what hopes you have, who you would like to meet, where you would like to go, what you would like to change about your body, your relationships, and why.
BUT.
There is a BUT.
Think carefully when you speak and before you write any list.
Think about whether you are really talking about your life.
Because we are bombarded by the lives of famous people whose lives we subconsciously would like to imitate, only to find out that it would be someone else’s life but not yours.
Example: you would want to sleep at least ten hours before doing anything remotely creative but if you admitted it you would pass for lazy.
But those ten hours would make you more creative, as opposed to someone who can create after sleeping three hours in one night.
But that’s not you.
So err, err every day, change course, redefine your needs and desires.
Only then do you find your creativity, sewing it to you!
A few films to reflect on lives, mistakes, what you don’t know about yourself and/or would like to change.
Movies I loved.
A classic to watch again and again: It’s a wonderful Life, 1946
The Worst Person in the World, 2021
Into the Wild, 2007
20th Century Women, 2016
Nyad, Across the Ocean, 2023
(Any film by Yorgos Lanthimos)
I recommend other movies for you to watch, Five Movies to Inspire Your Creativity and move your Mind: click the button!
