I heard a story once about a ceramics teacher who had two beginner classes in the same semester. He decided that Class A would work on one piece all semester long and it would be their masterpiece. Class B would work on as many pieces as possible to try to create as much quantity as possible. He hypothesized that Class A would have the better piece at the end because they would have the whole semester to perfect one piece. Whereas Class B would only have a short period to work on as many pieces as possible.

He was wrong. Class B’s pieces were much better in all regards over Class A’s pieces. He found that Class B was able to try more things and experiment with more techniques.

Mistakes are good. We learn from our mistakes and do better the next time. Unfortunately, we are trained at an early age that mistakes are bad in school. We should learn to embrace our mistakes quickly and learn to adjust quickly. Open and honest feedback is great to hear so we don’t have to spin our wheels.

Today’s Assignment: take a risk that you have been thinking about doing. Just go for it. Mitigate what you can but take that first step.