By Matt Butler

MISTAKES DEFINE US.

I’m not sure if I’ve made too many, or if I haven’t yet made enough. I try to see mistakes as lessons, but usually linger on my failure first and then grow (over the course of a few minutes, hours or days…) into an enlightened perspective in hindsight.

“Our lack of production is formed from our fear of failure”.

“Put your creations out into the world…your efforts will mean nothing if no one sees them” (paraphrased from Ian Wharton’s Guardian article on nurturing young talent).

Over the course of the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen more and more that doing first and thinking later is often the key to growth. When I act without inhibition, I’m surprised at what the outcome is and ultimately what I can achieve. But naturally, there’s always been a fear associated with that. I, possibly like you too, want to be remembered for what I’m great at. But as I speak to more people and look into people that I admire, I am reminded that it was their initial weaknesses that made them great. Everyone from Stu Outhwaite at Creature, who’s first few books were “shit to kinda alright”, to Michael Jordan who didn’t make it to his high school basketball team all have one thing in common; their setbacks fuelled their drive to become better great. Stu is now the Creative Partner at Creature and Michael Jordan is hailed as the greatest basketball player of all time. Mistakes are great!

But it’s more than that; we should be open to failing and failing hard – it’s the only way we’ll dispel the fear that holds us back.