Mistakes

We have all heard a Ted Talk telling us we are not our mistakes. Pffft — easy for them to say. We have all bombed in a game, a recital or failed a test and we leave feeling pretty crummy. What we do with the rejection, the failed test, the recital where we forgot two minutes of music (this one hurt!!) is our opportunity. Cue the Ted Talk: our mistakes get to teach us really important things and without them, we can’t really learn. Guess what I learned when I got on stage and forgot two minutes of Rococo Variations? I learned to not practice like an insane person for the next recital. I will never forget the lesson from Nick Curry- “I overheard you practicing and I just kept thinking..is she okay? What is she doing in there?” Thank you, Nick! I learned I actually have to repeat small sections more than one time, and SLOWLY, not run the entire piece over and over at a way too fast tempo. Oh, and I actually can memorize if I practice slowly and carefully!

The more mistakes you make and the faster you make the mistakes and learn from them, the faster you move toward your goal.

Concentrate not on how many mistakes, but on what type they are.

Think about what you can learn from every experience. Remember, failures are a gift. Mistakes are a gift.