Celebrate Your Mistakes!

I’m returning to a daily writing practice because a) I need to get back to writing and this is the only way I can stick with it, b) it’s a great way to get/stay focused on (and remember) what the hell I’m trying to accomplish, and c) I can kill several birds with one stone by working on book ideas as well as coming up with blog post topics for The Complete Flake, TrustWanda, and OneBlueBerry. (Am I overextended again, or what?)

In fact, I’ve created a new category for these little brain dumps – which I will post here whenever they seem worth sharing. I’ll post only little nuggets, short snippets of useful or interesting ideas about productivity, creativity, and writing.

So let’s jump in, shall we?

My friend the-maths-tutor, Colin Beveridge, told me about a nifty idea one of his students came up with: instead of being bummed when he makes a mistake, he celebrates them.

Yay, I failed a test! Now I get to learn what I did wrong! Or in my case, Yay, I haven’t been writing! Now I can start all over again!!!

It sounds silly – and it is. Which is exactly the point. If you can make yourself smile by cheering and pumping your fists in the air when you screw up (instead of yelling at yourself with that nasty, Inner Critic voice), you’ll be surprised at how much more motivated you feel about trying again.

In fact, you could take it even further, says Colin, and actively try to make mistakes… to get them out of the way and make room for the good stuff. Create what BIRD BY BIRD author Anne Lamott calls a shitty first draft on purpose (like I’m doing now) so you’ll have something that you can work with and improve.

Yay, I wrote a shitty first draft! And it’s truly AWFUL!!!

You might find a few gold nuggets as you sift through the dross but if not, you could still polish it up into something quite acceptable, a shiny pebble – not gold perhaps, but agate. And agate is pretty awesome all by itself.

Shiny pebbles and golden nuggets – you won’t find them if you don’t mess around in the mud.