“the more mistakes you make, the richer the soil for interesting outcomes.” That line caught me. Great article! Also, Makes me realize that “regret” is outcome feeling from mistakes that should be avoided during the creative flow.
With reference to mistakes, Michael, everyone makes mistakes as you say, the important thing I would say is to dispose of them wisely from your mind and not over-think them...
Hello, I would totally obliterate the word mistake from your thinking, mistakes are not harbingers of truth, they are vapour, therefore they don't exist....
Pre-Pandemic, my Partners and I hosted a creative conference, here in Cincinnati, based around this very mode of thought. It was called Fresh Error. Our hope was present a less than perfect view of process and opportunity within the industry of creativity. One which subverts the all too buzzy hype of the typical, quantitative, creative conference puffery. We were fortunate to have some great people come speak on the idea of mistakes in process and the fruit that is born because of them. Jiminie Ha, Joe Hollier, Jesse Reed, Dreily Carter — all amazing creatives with brilliant perspectives.
Michael, your statement that "the more mistakes you make, the richer the soil for interesting outcomes," resonates so deeply with our little studio. Not just because we are fallible, but because sometimes the best way to find balance in this highly digital and tech led industry is to embrace our inner analog. The very thing that makes us sentient and organic. CREATIVE.
We're big fans of Edward De Bono here. One of my favorite qoutes from him is the following:
"We need to use deliberate creativity in order to put forward certain future possibilities."
To me, "deliberate creativity" is often full of fresh errors. It's about arcing our thought to get around the pack. Embracing a difficult path (vs. the easy one), knowing that you might trip up along the way. This...IMO... This is what makes what we do so interesting. Beautiful. Fun!!!!
So am I daft enough that I missed it, or will you be sharing your personal perspective on "accidents" vs. "mistakes" in a future post? Curious to read what you think the defining differences are. I know creative persons that intentionally create problems in their work for themselves in order to force creative solutions, even going as far as removing/erasing/breaking their favorite part to force a sense of detachment and to keep themselves from becoming too precious about things. All interesting things to think about. Thanks for your thought-provoking posts.
Thanks, Michael. I tend to think of accidents as the outcome of errors or mistakes - errors and mistakes being quite different categories! But yep, they all lead to some odd thought culs-de-sacs. I wrote about mistakes + creativity (=mistakeism) this week if it's of interest to you... I'll be covering error and accidents over the next couple of weeks. https://unfoundvideo.substack.com/p/amat06-mistakeism
Michael, you are doing the thing I have suggested is not the thing to do and that is to keep the word mistakes in circulation in your mind, let us think about this for a second, mistakes do not in my opinion exist, there is no validation in supposing that mistakes are guiding principles with which to formulate thought processes that allow you to avoid them in the future, but here is the almamatum of the subject as with principles, mistakes in simple language are corridors of shame, to revisit such environments is injurious to the soul and mind, and furthermore, your physical body, as much as your mind, so as I have said Michael it is best to formulate a psychological implement that allows you to place bad memories, mistakes in fade mode, they are faded and no longer exist, they do not teach you anything other than shame, lead you into feeling shameful then shamefully and repeatedly repeating such shames, so if you wish to have ownership of your past that you retain in your memory as mistakes and such shame your mind will not improve, you will feel depressed and furthermore stressed, your body will only sub-exist as though it is in tears and depressed, continually, as such memories are also dreary and painfully gained experiences you would rather not have been in the position of experiencing them in the first place and can only reduce you as a person so to emerge strong I advise you stop thinking in such words, the only thing you can do is renew and refresh your ideas and your thoughts and I would suggest you do not think in words that are negative ...
a positive thought process leads to a positive healthy mind, reduce unhelpful negative images that do not grip either your psyche or your anatomy and think of landscapes, you need to create a new landscape of thinking, mistakes are paryias (please look up a similarly spelt word) they will eat you alive and leave you in agony and agonised. Mistakes. Leave them behind and stop thinking such words as honestly, they do not exist. Move on with life and think of life in positive thoughts, being happy, Angela
“the more mistakes you make, the richer the soil for interesting outcomes.” That line caught me. Great article! Also, Makes me realize that “regret” is outcome feeling from mistakes that should be avoided during the creative flow.
With reference to mistakes, Michael, everyone makes mistakes as you say, the important thing I would say is to dispose of them wisely from your mind and not over-think them...
Hello, I would totally obliterate the word mistake from your thinking, mistakes are not harbingers of truth, they are vapour, therefore they don't exist....
Michael,
Pre-Pandemic, my Partners and I hosted a creative conference, here in Cincinnati, based around this very mode of thought. It was called Fresh Error. Our hope was present a less than perfect view of process and opportunity within the industry of creativity. One which subverts the all too buzzy hype of the typical, quantitative, creative conference puffery. We were fortunate to have some great people come speak on the idea of mistakes in process and the fruit that is born because of them. Jiminie Ha, Joe Hollier, Jesse Reed, Dreily Carter — all amazing creatives with brilliant perspectives.
Michael, your statement that "the more mistakes you make, the richer the soil for interesting outcomes," resonates so deeply with our little studio. Not just because we are fallible, but because sometimes the best way to find balance in this highly digital and tech led industry is to embrace our inner analog. The very thing that makes us sentient and organic. CREATIVE.
We're big fans of Edward De Bono here. One of my favorite qoutes from him is the following:
"We need to use deliberate creativity in order to put forward certain future possibilities."
To me, "deliberate creativity" is often full of fresh errors. It's about arcing our thought to get around the pack. Embracing a difficult path (vs. the easy one), knowing that you might trip up along the way. This...IMO... This is what makes what we do so interesting. Beautiful. Fun!!!!
Appreciate your perspectives.
Cheers!!!
So am I daft enough that I missed it, or will you be sharing your personal perspective on "accidents" vs. "mistakes" in a future post? Curious to read what you think the defining differences are. I know creative persons that intentionally create problems in their work for themselves in order to force creative solutions, even going as far as removing/erasing/breaking their favorite part to force a sense of detachment and to keep themselves from becoming too precious about things. All interesting things to think about. Thanks for your thought-provoking posts.
"there's been a change in plans" i tell myself
The bold in the emails is obnoxious, I will chill out in the future. :)
Thanks, Michael. I tend to think of accidents as the outcome of errors or mistakes - errors and mistakes being quite different categories! But yep, they all lead to some odd thought culs-de-sacs. I wrote about mistakes + creativity (=mistakeism) this week if it's of interest to you... I'll be covering error and accidents over the next couple of weeks. https://unfoundvideo.substack.com/p/amat06-mistakeism
Michael, you are doing the thing I have suggested is not the thing to do and that is to keep the word mistakes in circulation in your mind, let us think about this for a second, mistakes do not in my opinion exist, there is no validation in supposing that mistakes are guiding principles with which to formulate thought processes that allow you to avoid them in the future, but here is the almamatum of the subject as with principles, mistakes in simple language are corridors of shame, to revisit such environments is injurious to the soul and mind, and furthermore, your physical body, as much as your mind, so as I have said Michael it is best to formulate a psychological implement that allows you to place bad memories, mistakes in fade mode, they are faded and no longer exist, they do not teach you anything other than shame, lead you into feeling shameful then shamefully and repeatedly repeating such shames, so if you wish to have ownership of your past that you retain in your memory as mistakes and such shame your mind will not improve, you will feel depressed and furthermore stressed, your body will only sub-exist as though it is in tears and depressed, continually, as such memories are also dreary and painfully gained experiences you would rather not have been in the position of experiencing them in the first place and can only reduce you as a person so to emerge strong I advise you stop thinking in such words, the only thing you can do is renew and refresh your ideas and your thoughts and I would suggest you do not think in words that are negative ...
a positive thought process leads to a positive healthy mind, reduce unhelpful negative images that do not grip either your psyche or your anatomy and think of landscapes, you need to create a new landscape of thinking, mistakes are paryias (please look up a similarly spelt word) they will eat you alive and leave you in agony and agonised. Mistakes. Leave them behind and stop thinking such words as honestly, they do not exist. Move on with life and think of life in positive thoughts, being happy, Angela