DAY 11: Perfection - It's All Wrong

If you don't risk making mistakes, you can't learn. I am sure you've all heard it. But it is something that needs to be repeated.

One of my favorite songs is by Natasha Bedingfield called 'Unwritten.' There is a verse that goes:

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines,
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way

It gets me every time.

Living in Germany I am reminded often of my 'American-ness'. Americans, North Americans, are often seen as a group of people who take risks, sometimes unnecessary ones, but it is a learned value. We are taught to try and make mistakes and go forward and risk failure. I compare this to life in Germany, where risk and mistakes are avoided at all costs. One gathers information, follows the rules and makes decisions based on a lot of thought. Trial and error is not encouraged.

Today's challenge and action focus on NOT seeking perfection. It is about Play. Experimentation. Making mistakes - lots of them.

I look at my neighbor who is learning to make glass beads. She took one class, fell in love, and dove into it. Now she teaches herself from a book. I am amazed at how good the beads are. She said that some of them crack and break, especially when she rushes or tries too hard. She's surprised to see that sometimes the best ones are the ones she thought were all wrong. In the end, she takes joy in the creation - the discovery - not the end product. She just tosses them all in a small cardboard box, for now.

So, the action: Write for 4 minutes haikus about - failure. Then another 4 minutes on perfection.

I won't bore you with my attempts, but Patti's goal is to get you to not worry about perfection, but to begin the process. What happens in regularly and consistently doing something is that through making mistakes you can refine your creation.

The challenge: create art every day for the next 37 days without fail. See what emerges from habit and repetition.

I know of a website: CreativeEveryDay, who inspired a good friend of mine to get busy. It is amazing what she has produced and the new directions it has taken her company. You can see what it has done for her...

Now, this is one challenge I can't wait to start! Who's with me?!