For many writers, it’s no big deal to just start writing and accept that we’re working on a rough draft.
After all, we’re going to come back to that piece, review it and edit it. And we will probably make more than one set of revisions.
So, why do we have trouble applying this same attitude toward life?
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
When we make mistakes, we often feel trapped by the consequences. We mentally yell at ourselves for not doing a perfect job the first time.
Then we decide the mistake cannot be fixed, and our situation cannot get better.
What would happen if you looked at your mistake as a rough draft?
How many times have you heard a person say, “You should know better!” to you or to someone else?
And you often do know better.
But you were just doing the best job you could with your limited resources. Maybe you were tired, or you were trying to do too many things at the same time.
Sure, you know that every sentence should end with punctuation. You know you spelled that word incorrectly.
You know you shouldn’t lock your car before making sure you have your keys in your hand. You shouldn’t yell at your spouse or your kids.
But it happened anyway.
All you can do now is try to fix these problems and try do better next time.
Sometimes, we can edit our own work, make changes and fix our problems by ourselves. This works for smaller writing projects and for smaller mistakes in life.
But what happens when you make a huge mistake? The kind of mistake that could hurt a relationship, your career, or your finances?
This is when you need to ask for help.
Writers work with at least one (and sometimes multiple) editor(s) for larger projects, such as a magazine article or a book. A bigger project raises the chances of having more mistakes in a rough draft.
You can’t pick just anyone to edit your writing.
Having someone look at your writing and then give you vague responses like “That was nice,” or “So far, this book sucks,” is not going to make you a better writer.
And in life, you can’t just randomly pick any of your friends or family members, to help you become a better coworker, spouse, parent, or friend, as well as a better person.
You need a good editor.
This is a person who holds you accountable. A good editor knows you can write a great blog post, magazine article or a book.
The editor then offers you constructive criticism, not by just pointing out flaws, but also by making suggestions for how to fix these flaws. He or she does this to help your work reach as many readers as possible.
Your editor wants you to succeed as a writer.
In life, you need someone who knows your good qualities and who knows that you are better than your mistakes.
This is a person who will offer you constructive criticism, not by just pointing out your mistakes, but also by making suggestions on what can be fixed and how you can do better next time.
He or she does this to help you rewrite your personal story. This person wants you to succeed.
This person knows that you can make your personal story better.
He or she wants to help you rebuild and make changes so that you can share your skills, talents and experiences with others in the best way possible.
Final Thoughts
How would seeing your mistakes in life as a rough draft change you?
Having an editor review your writing can feel uncomfortable, especially when it’s suggested we get rid of a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole character or subplot in a story, that we love.
But we already accept this as just part of the writing process.
This type of thinking can also help us in our personal lives.
This could help us be more patient with ourselves as we make changes and get rid of the things that are holding us back from having better relationships and creating better work.
And we would appreciate the fact that making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and making changes are just part of the living process.
How did you learn from a mistake and rewrite your own personal story? Please share with us in the comments below any lessons learned, questions or any other comments you have about writing.