"I only see the mistakes"
This came from when I was painting the back drop for the Spring Dance a few weeks ago.
When people complimented me on how it looked, I would just cringe. Part of it was because of all the time I had worked with professional painters who could have done twice as good a job in half the time, but most of the cringing was because I only see the mistakes.
This is something that has been true with most things I have built or created through the years. When I look at them after they are done, all I see is the conglomeration of errors that went into the making of them. It's very hard to take the step back to see the thing as a whole and to realize the mistakes are really only a very small part of it.
I think the places where we make mistakes are also the places where we put the most thought and the most worry, how can I fix it? will some one be able to see it? The parts that go well, that just flow, are over and done with almost immediately. As the project goes on the amount of time we spend thinking about the errors begins to outweigh the time we spend on the things we're doing right, until it seems that we're not doing anything right and the whole project becomes defined by the mistakes.
The best cure for this I have found is to repeat an old theater saying over and over again to myself:
"If it is done, it is beautiful."
Amen.
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