With one wave from the back of the broom I throw 3 jars of pencils on the floor. "Mistake, thanks!" I say to myself, humming. Couldn't I really look better? My to do list is burning on the desk and putting pencils back in a container was just not one of them.
"Mistake thanks"... Such a nice one-liner that everyone has probably said at some point. Stains on your clean clothes? "Mistake, thanks!" Accidentally took the wrong turn?: "Mistake, thanks!"
I am aware that I set the bar quite high for myself when it comes to performance. From my experiences in primary school, it soon became clear to me that there had to be a good result and the process was an afterthought. I couldn't afford mistakes.
Where we want children to try new things at school, learn new things, enter into new things or even think innovatively, there is very little room for making a mistake.
The two are inextricably linked. When one innovates, sets up something, tries something new to make the world a better place, it is very unlikely that there will be no errors in the process. Innovation takes place in a setting where the outcome has not yet been determined. The process is wobbly and chaotic. And let people be routine animals by nature. In education and as parents, we tend to let children work mainly on a certain product, on an end result. But how much room do you give for discovery, focused on the process or by welcome coincidences?
I get deeper into my thoughts and think about it a little deeper... Does the statement "Thank you for it" only contain sarcasm, or is there still a truth in it? A truth that can perhaps be interpreted much lighter and more positively?
I recently attended a workshop on Creative Thinking. During this meeting, a beautiful story about Massimo Bottura was used. A chef who started a restaurant in Modena with his progressive view of Italian cuisine. Something that was not immediately received positively in the environment, because why would you mess with something that is already good?
As the chef of his three-star restaurant, you'd think he had to feel the pressure all the time to keep his status high. Yet he was able to turn failure into a ridiculously great success. From a problem a new possibility....
One day, one of his employees dropped a plate of cheesecake on the floor. The waiter was panicked. The first perfect cheesecake was now scattered on a broken plate. An incident that could count on angry looks and a reprimand from the manager at every other three-star restaurant. With sweat on his head, the waiter stood next to the just-crashed piece of cake. Massimo walked in quickly and calmed the waiter. He reassured him and told him that a new dish had just seen the light of day. "Oops I dropped the lemon tart!"
"Oops i dropped the lemon tart" has become world famous and people come from far and wide for this special dish. The cheesecake is served on a plate that looks broken, but reminds us that making mistakes is okay. Leaves room for poetry in everyday life so that there is room for creative thinking and the beauty that it brings.
As I put the pencils back in the trays, I find 10 erasers that we lost this week. On my to do list was ordering new erasers... That is no longer necessary!
Mistake.... THANK YOU! ;)
Until next time,
Love Hannah.