Mistakes Stumbles Progress

One of the subjects I’ve written about often is at the heart of this one today. 

To set the stage for you, this is meant to be a purely inspirational and motivational piece of writing.

Let’s start with this quote.

Mistakes are necessary.

Stumbles are normal.

These are baby steps.

Progress, not perfection,

is what we should be

asking of ourselves.

~Julia Cameron – The Artist’s Way

I don’t know of too many perfect people.  Even the best Christian I know is far from perfect.  Tellers in banks are supposed to be perfect.  Their cash box must balance at the end of the day with a $0.00 difference from their morning balance. 

Otherwise, life goes on for the rest of us.  We are mortal.  We live and die.  We think – sometimes with great acuity and at other times with great dunce-like floundering.

I love the phrase above – “These are baby steps.” 

BABY STEPS!  Who can’t relate to that?  I have a picture of my grand-son Eliot just as he is learning to walk.  Last week he turned six.  In this picture he is somewhere between 12 and 18 months.  

Just like all children, he stumbled, fell, and got back up hundreds of times.  

And so should you and I. 

You should see some stuff I wrote thirty years ago.  Actually you should not.

The bottom line is this – we get better. 

We Get Better.

I’m on a new eating regime.  I have gone gluten-free, sugar free and dairy-free.  Just last week I had some serious symptoms of sugar withdrawal, and I wanted to get my sugar fix.  And I overcame!

I made progress.  And now, one week later, those symptoms have pretty much left me alone.  For this sugar addict, that is a major accomplishment.

I wrote a piece a few years ago called Sometimes Ice Skaters Fall Down.  It, too, is at the heart of what I’m talking about here.

We grow every day.  We learn every day.  And some days are better than others.  It is a matter of moving in the right direction more than it is in doing it perfectly. 

Are you a studying some overwhelming subject?  You’ll learn and lose along the way.  You’ll learn new material and then promptly forget what you learned, however, keep on trying.  The brain has to go through a processing stage with the new information you’ve learned, and sooner or later you will master the material if you have fortitude and discipline.  I assure you of that.

My early years as a singer were painful for me and for my audience.  I sang flat, and I learned.

My early years as a drummer were fraught with dropped drum sticks on several occasions.  I learned to hold onto those sooner or later.

Some wise people say, and I agree, that if you are making mistakes and stumbles that is a good thing.  That means you are trying.

YOU ARE TRYING SOMETHING NEW!  Good for you.

And now it is time to close. 

Remember this …

P Michael Biggs

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