Leadership Thought: Why So Many Mistakes in My Leadership Thoughts?

Dear Friends,

If you have been receiving Leadership Thoughts for any period of time you probably have noticed that I often make a lot of mistakes in producing them. I assure you they are not intentional, but the frequency of those mistakes might suggest otherwise.

I still cringe whenever I reread one of my Leadership Thoughts when after clicking the send button, I discover some glaring errors-misspelled  words,  words left out, confusing sentences, poor grammar, unintended notes attached to the bottom of the message. You name the errors and I've 'accomplished' them.

You would think by now that after sending them out for these many years, I would finally produce a mistake free copy, but it seldom happens.

I could use the excuse that I'm generally in a hurry to send them out in a timely fashion each morning and that would be partly true. But the major reason is I have never been known for being exceptionally careful and precise, and if the truth be told, I would have to admit that at times I can be just plain sloppy. I am working on my weaknesses, however, and I am trying to improve, even though it  might not always be evident.

Having said  this, I try not to ever let my fear of making mistakes limit me from writing. Making mistakes is a part of the learning and improvement process, and as long as I don't keep making the same mistakes again and again, I know I will become a better writer.

In his book "Atomic Habits," author James Clear tells a story about Jerry Uelsmann, a well-known photographer who was a professor at the University of Florida, 

One semester. Uelsmann decided to try something. On the first day of the semester, he divided the class into two groups.  

The group sitting on the left of the classroom would be graded on how many photos they took. If they took 100, they would get an A, 90 would result in a B, and on and on. He called this group the "Quantity" group.

Meanwhile, the other half of the class was designated as the. "Quality" group. They only had to produce one photo all semester. But they were told that it would need to be nearly perfect in order to receive an A.

The results surprised us.

All of the best photos were turned in by the quantity group.

Why? because they weren't afraid to make mistakes. They experimented with different ways of taking photos and let their creativity show.

That was in marked contrast to the "Quality" group, who discussed what perfection might be like and were afraid to try different things because they were being judged on just one photo.

It goes back to whether we have a "Fixed" or "Growth" mindset. Are we afraid of making mistakes or are we so busy trying new things and learning that we don't worry about whether we do something wrong- we just learn from it and get better as a result. 

Don't let your desire to be perfect stand in the way of your growth and development. Don't be afraid to experiment with new ways of doing things. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results." Steve Gilbert, "Win Your Day, One photo versus One Hundred100 photos."

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden  wrote, "Never be afraid to make a mistake."

Coach Wooden used to be bothered if his players didn't make enough mistakes in practice.

"I wanted my players to be active, I wanted them doing things and initiating. I didn't want them worrying about mistakes. Mistakes made while expanding boundaries are what I wanted. If we weren't making mistakes, we weren't far enough out on the edge. If we weren't pushing against the walls of our capabilities, we weren't practicing properly. The time to cut down on turnovers is during games, not during practice."

Wooden concludes, "The individual who is mistake- free, is also probably sitting around doing nothing. And that's a very big mistake."

There are times I would like a 'do over' when it comes to producing my daily Leadership Thought, but I now know better. The more mistakes I make, and the more I learn from those mistakes, the more the quality of my messages will improve. 

I am still waiting for that to happen. Quite possibly it hasn't happened yet because I still haven't made enough mistakes, so whenever you see some glaring errors in my message, just take a chill and realize I am still working on reaching my mistake quota.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom