No one would ever doubt that Albert Einstein was one of the greatest minds in all human history. Despite his many, many accolades I like this story about him the best. He went to the chalkboard and began to write down simple multiplication tables...
9 x 1 = 9
9 x 2 = 18
9 x 3 = 27
9 x 4 = 36
9 x 5 = 45
9 x 6 = 54
9 x 7 = 63
9 x 8 = 72
9 x 9 = 80
9 x 10 = 90
Someone in the class raised their hand and pointed out that he had gotten one wrong. "9 x 9 is 81, not 80" he said proudly. The class laughed at the error. Einstein didn't. He merely replied "None of you made any comment about the fact that I had gotten all the other calculations correct. You only cared that I had gotten a single calculation wrong."
There is such a powerful lesson here. We live in a world of data, microseconds, precision. We expect every single little thing to be perfect in a world that we should admit is very far from perfect even at the best of times. We are called out in our schoolwork or at our jobs for the slightest mistakes and sometimes even laughed at or publicly humiliated for it. We are rarely, if ever, praised for the 99% (maybe slightly less) of things we do well every day, all the time.
Some mistakes indeed have terrible consequences, such as poor engineering of an airplane, building or bridge, poor medical diagnoses or surgical skills, poor driving, etcetera. I would never suggest that those are OK. However, I would concede that we are often too harsh on others and ourselves when it comes to mistakes. We make a big deal out of a small deal.
This creates anxiety, stress and fear which can prevent us from trying something new. In some cases, we retreat into our shells and refuse to challenge our situations out of fear that we would fail or be ridiculed for any small mistake. Sometimes, The dread of it prevents us from even trying at all.
It's important to remember that our strength is not a result of our success. It is quite the opposite. Strength comes from making mistakes; from failing and yet continuing on - from perseverance to reach every milestone that leads to the ultimate goal, despite the various setbacks that will inevitably occur in every endeavour. The success stories that resonate with us are not those of easy victory, but rather those that were hard-fought, well-earned and richly deserved.
Please don't worry about your little mistakes, you'll fix them. So will I. In the end what will matter is if you didn't give up.
I'll see you at the finish line.
