We have talked before about not being the smartest guy in the room, and about taking risks and making mistakes.
I have been watching a lot of videos and listening to podcasts lately. Several times in recent weeks I have watched videos, or listened to a podcast, or read an article from one of my favorite creators addressing the necessity of making mistakes. Because mistakes are a necessary step in learning a new skill. If we don't make mistakes, we aren't testing the limits of our skills or expanding our horizons. If we only do what we are already good at, we never learn anything new.
These insights have come from several different directions. One of the major themes I have seen, and one that definitely applies to striking out on our own, as when we leave the team of a day job and begin our life as an individual creator, is being the one doing it all.
Creators who had camera operators, or audio techs, or video editors, were suddenly working in isolation. They became one-man (or woman) operations. They had to handle equipment, set up operations, and process their creations in ways some of them had not done in a long time.
And guess what? They made mistakes! Yeah, these men and women who have been making their living as creators, these pros, made mistakes. Some of them were doozies. Recordings where the audio suddenly dropped out. Video that went out of focus. There were audio tracks where the creator's voice was hoarse but these was no one to back them up, and projects where they forgot to turn on the camera for a portion of the build.
And what was the outcome of all these mistakes? The creators learned. By doing, by doing poorly, and figuring out where they messed up, and trying again. Sure, their efforts were not as polished, as professional as they would have wished. But the important thing was that there were creations that would not have existed otherwise - and they learned from their mistakes.
Ultimately, no one was injured. The less-than-professional creations exist, and the creators gained new skills, or polished rusty ones. In the end they became better creators by learning from their mistakes. Some of them even gained new respect for their colleagues who helped make their creations look good.
One of the things the last couple years has shown us is that the good creators, the ones we return to again and again, make it look easy. They appear at ease and in charge when on camera, or sound polished and in control on a podcast. Often this is the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and the work of a team of creative people. The lockdown provided us a look behind the scenes and reminded us how hard these people work - and that they make mistakes.
This is the choice we have to make. To try new things, to test our limits, to do something that we are not already good at - and to make mistakes.
It's difficult. We want to be that accomplished, smooth creator, and it's scary to let yourself make mistakes. But you didn't learn to walk without falling down - a lot - until you learned how to control the muscles that provided both balance and motion. The same goes for gaining control of your creative muscles.
it doesn't matter how many times you fall down. Just that you get back up one time more.
And learn from your mistakes.