Make mistakes

At the age of 65, Colonel Sanders sold his KFC recipe on his 1,010th try. James Dyson created 5,126 prototypes before creating the Dyson Vacuum. His early models sucked, but apparently not enough. Babe Ruth cranked 714 homers, but struck out 1,330 times. Michael Jordan lost almost 300 games, missed over 9000 shots at goal, and was given the rock 26 times to take game-winning shots, but missed.

Stuff goes wrong, don’t let that freak you out. Mistakes are key, especially in our line of work. It’s okay if you go down a wrong path; if your business idea doesn’t catch on; if you show a design you absolutely love, only to have it torn apart (you probably just need to make the logo bigger).

You, reading this right now, you made a mistake? Congrats and welcome to the party. It means you just tried something. It means you’re brave. As Edwin Land said, “An essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”

Mistakes are the essential part of the process. Trust the process and yourself. The only mistake with real power is the one that stops you. So keep working. Make mistakes. Make messes. Make it new. Make it count.

Tank