"The fastest way to succeed is to double your rate of failure."
Thomas Watson, Sr, president of International Business Machines (IBM)
I have a Tupperware bin in which I place all my sewing failures. I like to go back and rifle through the stuff. Its an account of all the things I've tried and not done a good job at. It reminds me of where I have been. It reminds me that it is okay to screw up and make art that really isn't very artful.
As I get older I am becoming more and more comfortable with messing up and not living up to my expectations. I always have a crazy ideal in my mind when I start a project and I count every stitch that is less than perfect. But that's okay. It just fuels the fire to do better next time. I think we all need to learn to embrace our failures, because it is really only through failing that we grow and expand. Our art becomes better. We can become more focused. Half the battle of life is knowing what you don't want. So if you make some piece of crap, you can cross that off your list and say, "Well, I never have to do that again!"
So here is one of my favorite motivational quotes from Michael Jordon made into a YouTube video. We used to have this as of poster hanging in our reception area at an out-patient mental health clinic I worked at. Many of our clients were disadvantaged youth and I can only hope some of the kids read that poster and were inspired to not give up.
That's really the only failure there is...giving up. So let's never give up on our dreams, our heart's desire!
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison
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