Skip to content
The Art of Getting It Wrong
Mistakes are going to happen in life. Learn how you can shift your perception of what a mistake is in order to celebrate it instead. In this guide, we examine the art of getting it wrong and how to redefine success with failure. And how making mistakes with a mindful approach can be a powerful tool for personal growth and creative exploration.
Acknowledge Your Mistakes
Accept that mistakes are not inherently bad. Rather, they can provide valuable opportunities for growth, learning, and progress. Remind yourself that mistakes don’t reflect on your capabilities. They are an indication of where you are in your learning. A beginner, a midway point, or an expert. Everything else is a judgment.
We are all beginners at some point. To put unnecessary pressure on yourself to never make a mistake is unrealistic and actually hinders your ability to learn. Your mistakes teach you lessons. And you can harness those experiences to practice not feeling ashamed or embarrassed.
“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.”
– Brene Brown
Don’t Judge Yourself
Evaluate the choice that you made, not yourself as a person. The art of getting it wrong is all about reframing each mistake as an opportunity. You can choose to improve and become more capable. Take stock of how you can learn from your error, change course, and make better decisions in the future. Identifying the unique learning opportunities in each slip-up is key to reframing failure as success.
Specifically in art, what is a mistake anyway? The great masters made mistakes in their paintings especially when they were just learning to paint. There could even be mistakes in their most beloved paintings that we have never even noticed. A mistake is a judgment not a fact.
“The only difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment.”
Wayne W. Dyer
Embrace Risk Taking
Allowing yourself to be comfortable with taking risks is essential for success. Without risk comes stagnation. Risks have the potential to unlock new opportunities and successes. The courage to take a chance can reap huge rewards.
Don’t be afraid to try something new or put yourself out there. Risks will be scary but remind yourself that as you take the risk you are still you. You are still loved. Accept risk as part of the process of learning.
As you begin a mindful art practice, the initial risk may just be dipping your brush in paint and placing it on the canvas. Eventually, the risk may be trying a new technique or delving into a subject that is controversial. You will become more comfortable with risks but the fear never goes away. So, do it despite the fear that comes with risks.
Reevaluate Your Success Indicators
Mistakes are opportunities to reevaluate what success means to you. Track your progress in a different way, such as measuring the lessons you learned instead of the outcome. Or even reframe failure as something that pushes you to learn more.
Finding more positive ways to measure your progress is part of the art of getting it wrong. Reevaluate what is important specifically to you in achieving success. Remember that no matter how hard it feels at times, mistakes set you up for potential greater successes down the road.
By defining your version of success you are more likely to be satisfied with your progress. Success could be simply carving out the time to do a stress-reduction activity like meditation or journaling. Check out my article on the Benefits of Meditation and How To Start Your Journal Practice for more information.
Start by identifying your specific goals and what success looks like to you in terms of those goals. When you feel successful, that confidence will spread to other areas of your life.
Redefine Success with Failure
When you fail at something, ask yourself what does that really mean? Expectations of what success is can often devour our self-confidence. Ask yourself if your perceived success was making it look like someone else’s version of success. Is that success what you really want? Or is it a version of success that you thought it should look like?
Are you happy with your results or do you want to do something different next time? If so, then get the supports and tools you need to learn more. Then do it again. There is really no such thing as failure. If you do the thing, then you have succeeded in some way. Find success in the doing. In other words find the value in the process, not the result.
Invest in Self-Development
The art of getting it wrong requires some crucial self-development strategies. A growth mindset, mindfulness, and time management skills can be so valuable in your journey. A growth mindset involves believing that abilities and intelligence can be developed over time.4 Science has also established the benefits of developing a regular habit of mindfulness, which helps build resilience and combat stress.1
Effective time management can help to reduce stress and help you reach your goals more quickly.2 Goal setting gives you the opportunity to stay organized and manage expectations realistically.3 All of these strategies help reframe your attitude towards failure. This keeps you motivated on your journey of learning from mistakes. Check out my article on Creating Healthier Habits for some goal-setting strategies that work!
Let’s Connect!
If you want support finding more mindful moments in your day, then I can help! I’ve developed The Becoming Blissful with Mindful Art course to teach you how to use mindful art to not only tap into your creativity but also make friends with your inner critic and find more self-compassion. Your creativity is waiting for you!
Frequently Asked Questions about The Art of Getting It Wrong:
Making mistakes can feel really uncomfortable. Especially at first. But as you keep going despite the perceived mistake you will learn more and eventually get better. The mistake is all part of the process.
Start by examining your definition of success and what it is you truly want to achieve. This will give you a north star to follow on your journey. Knowing where you want to go will help you to accept the mistakes along the way as part of the process and simply opportunities to learn.
There are many methods to deal with a feeling of failure. Emotions come and go and typically last about 90 seconds. Allow yourself to feel the feeling and let it go. Then you can choose to either try the activity again and see how it feels. Or taking a break can also be a good idea. Do something that feels good and helps to build your self-confidence before diving back in again.
References:
- https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/marc/about-us/research#:~:text=Research%20in%20mindfulness%20has%20identified,%2C%20positive%20affect%2C%20and%20concentration.
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/benefits-of-time-management
- https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-goal-setting/
- https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please note that I’ve linked to these products purely because I recommend them and they are from companies I trust. There is no additional cost to you.
Tracey McGrath is an artist and pharmacist. She is on a journey to share how mindful art can help women with their mental health. She is a certified mindful art teacher by the International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance and a certified meditation teacher by UnPlug Meditation Studio. She is also a Duke Health & Well-Being Usui Reiki Level 3 Master Practitioner as well as a Certified Strategic Life Coach and Certified EFT Practitioner by Priority Academy. She earned her doctorate of pharmacy from UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2004.