The Art of Letting Go…
If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.
- Mary Pickford
Perhaps it would seem to be a bit of a pessimistic choice of quote…
I am sitting here less than a week after handing, having spend most of this time going through all of the “screw-ups” I have done with this project. And thoughts about not having done enough, and thinking I could have done what I did much better. You know, the usual self-discouragements.
But fact is, it has been delivered. And in a week I will start preparing for the presentation, which lead me to think about something Gitte Grønbeck wrote on a status update of mine. “you have to be empty to be able to feel what it´s like to be filled up again.”
It makes sense.
I actually think that being able to let go of possible mistakes and focus on… Well, anything else for a week or two, will create enough mental space to not repeat these mistakes. New inspiration needs to flow through, which means that holding on to this second-guessing way of thinking essentially is very counter productive, even if it seems to be a great way of punishing oneself.
…And now, back to Asimov.
And remember this: “Failure is an event, never a person” (William D. Brown)
The problem is not to make mistakes, but to deny them, and then to make them again…
Yes! (to both)
Another problem is to be so afraid of making a mistake, that you become paralyzed instead.