Always Keep Your Pencil Nearby
I was browsing through a website today and this quote jumped out at me. It kind of spoke to some conversations I’ve been having lately with myself and others.
“No one is perfect — that’s why pencils have erasers.” — Wolfgang Riebe
The quote so nicely sums up and answers something a lot of us struggle with. Even though at an intellectual level we know there is no such thing as perfection, we still tend to expect it of ourselves.
Just imagine if you could have a pencil follow you around with a nice big, never ending eraser on the top of it. It could be there peeking over my shoulder as I work at something I need to do.
Ready, vigilant and only to happy to flip over me and quickly erase the inevitable fuckups. Clearing the deck for me to do another run at it. Hopefully the pencil would have the where with all to let me actually see the mistake before so helpfully erasing it.
If we can’t see our own mistakes, how in blazes would we ever know not to just keep doing the same one over and over?
As Thomas Edison said about his 10,000 attempts to invent the lightbulb,
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” - Thomas A. Edison
I don’t think I’d have the fortitude to try something 10,000 times before considering it to be impossible or not within my ability. If I did happen to find the fortitude, I would hope my trusty pencil would have the eraser to back me up and keep me on track to the next one.
So much negativity surrounds making mistakes or failing at something. People love the idea of winning yet hate the idea someone might know there was first mistakes and failure before reaching the goal.
I think that is one of the reasons, as frustrated and sometimes angry, I get at Hobo when she’s being a brat, I have to smile at the fact that she just pauses, regroups and goes back at it. She’s got her own pencil guy following her around and erasing each failed attempt.
When I’m writing or working on creating a colouring page, I don’t think twice about using the eraser to correct and improve my work. It’s a natural part of the process.
So why exactly do I get hesitant about admitting errors when doing other things? Sometimes it’s moving too fast and breaking things. Sometimes it’s not thinking it through. Other times it’s crazy enough to know in my heart it likely wont hurt but trying it anyways.
The other day I talked about buying up some LUNA with the price at zub-penny levels. This move could go either way. I could have bought the huge dip and will reap rewards later or I may find I bought up some useless air depending on how Terra sets up to recover.
One thing I know I didn’t do. I didn’t spend money that belonged some where else. I don’t have to use the pencil on that move, maybe on the LUNA, who knows.
Do you keep your pencil nearby? Will you let the eraser function and not hide it?
Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
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But we cannot draw our life with a pencil, we only can do it with permanent ink :-) Although I am with you, it should already start with the little ones, learning by trying out and not by getting in troubles for every fault they make.
Every day is a blank sheet of paper, open for new oportunities to be written with permament ink ;-)
The pencil is merely the delivery mode in the analogy.. it's the eraser that matters.
Yay! 🤗
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I think we as human beings on the third rock from the sun should do is give ourselves permission to experiment. We should support others in their experiments. Offer support, helpful feedback, and applaud their efforts regardless of whether the experiment was a success or not.
Learning something new is a win regardless of an experiment being a wonderful win or a fantastic failure. The act of learning is filled with moments which require an eraser. Most times learning requires two or three erasers.
Very true... I tend to think of the pencil as being the carrier of a never-ending eraser so we always have one to use and carry on. I wasn't always that way, I was raised in a home where making mistakes brought down a lot of heat. I've had to learn that to error truly is human and anyone who wants to judge needs to put it where the sun doesn't shine.