The Wisdom of Making Mistakes

Perennial Meditations (Notes & Updates)

As some of you may have noticed, many of my recent posts are for paid subscribers only. I’ve been on Substack for roughly four months, with most of the content for all subscribers. But moving forward, only the Monday and Saturday posts will be for free subscribers; all others will be reserved for paid members. You can become a paid member for $5 per month or $39 for the year. As always, if you would like to become a paid member but are unable to afford it at the moment, feel free to reach out and request a free membership (no questions ask). I never want financial reasons to get in the way of anyone’s search for wisdom.

Thank you so much for your generous support thus far; I am humbled and deeply appreciative of every reader and member. Your support enables these daily meditations on the art of living but also helps produce two ad-free podcasts (In Search of Wisdom and Perennial Meditations).

I also plan to start offering live courses for paid members in the coming year. Starting with a 5-week course (delivered live over Zoom) on Ancient Lessons for Modern Living (early January), followed by a course on Perennial Habits soon after. The courses will be designed for small groups and an included member benefit of the Perennial Meditations newsletter.

The Perfectionist by Grant Wood (1936, public domain)

How comfortable are you with making mistakes? Does perfectionism ever creep into your life? A curious paradox is a need to loosen our grip on perfection to achieve success. The wisdom of imperfection is a perennial lesson from some of the greatest thinkers throughout history.

For example, Vincent Van Gogh stressed this point,

If one wants to be active, one must not be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes. To be good — many people think that they will achieve it by doing no harm — and that’s a lie. That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity. Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of nonsense.

In my interview with Karen Swallow Prior (author of On Reading Well), she explained, “The old saying is that the best is the enemy of the good. The virtue of prudence is practical wisdom on the ground and, by its very nature, goes against perfectionism. Striving for the best instead of doing something often prevents us from accomplishing anything. Prudence knows how to weigh and measure all factors to get something done. As opposed to putting it off until it is perfect.”