David A. Wimsett's Perspectives

We’re often pushed to achieve perfection. Mistakes are taken by some as a sign of laziness or incompetence. Phrases like failure is not an option can set unrealistic burdens on people and lead to stress, which can result in more failure.

In truth, failure is a great teaching tool. Without the permission to fail, we become complacent and stagnant. This can cause us to repeat the same actions over and over in the fear we’ll overreach and be ruined.

No one is born knowing everything. We have to practice. This is a large part of childhood, testing ourselves and our abilities to understand how to live in the world.

In writing, we often yearn for praise. Criticism stings. Yet, it is in experimenting, failing and trying again that we expand our reach. Because our nature is to seek acceptance in the group, we can berate ourselves for not writing the perfect line of dialogue, struggling to give a character an emotional reaction or not finishing the word count we set for ourselves.

Yet, with each failure, we learn what doesn’t work and are free to experiment and find what does. If you fail, be kind to yourself and look for ways to improve.