This post isn't really a CF post, but I've shared some other life mottos on this blog and so I figured I could stray from the CF theme for one post and share another: Make Loud Mistakes.
I can't take credit for the origin of this phrase---that goes to my high school orchestra teacher, Mr. Watson---but I do take credit for taking the phrase and expanding it. Originally, Mr. Watson used it to help us spot the hard parts of music. If we made a mistake and we knew it, we knew what we needed to work on. If it was a quiet mistake, we might have thought it was just a slip-up or not even a mistake at all. The whole point was to improve our playing by knowing what we needed to improve.
Whenever I heard that phrase, it gave me courage. I knew Watson wouldn't be mad if I messed up; I was supposed to mess up in order to get better, and the whole point of his job was to make me get better. I was allowed to not be the best or the smartest and it was good, and even welcomed. I'd slide my bow across the strings of my violin and play the notes on the page, and I had fun doing so. Looking back on high school, I realize some of my fondest memories are from orchestra, where I was in a comfortable, welcoming environment, and Watson and his phrase helped create that for me.
In and since high school, I took that phrase out of the orchestra rehearsal room and applied it to everything. I realized I was in school to learn. If I knew everything about, well, everything, then I wouldn't need to go to school. That gave me the courage to ask more questions, answer more questions, and be wrong more. In college, still, I feel this way. I get intimated going into some of my English classes with upperclassmen who are much further along in their degrees, having taken more English classes and therefore knowing (generally) more than me, so when they raise their hands and are always right, I start to worry. Is English the right discipline for me? What am I doing in this grammar class? I have to take a step back and realize that I'm in this grammar class because I don't know it yet. I haven't read half of the books my peers have because I'm not even half way through my college career. I need to learn these things, which is why I'm here. By making loud mistakes, I can learn the material and better understand English.
I've also been able to apply this phrase outside of the classroom. Recently, I took up playing Dungeons and Dragons. There's a lot of information that comes with playing that game, and as a level 2 paladin, I know almost none of it. However, I don't pretend I do. I have to ask which dice is my D8 a lot, and where on my character sheet I can find my constitution (actually, that's a bad example; I happen to know that one). Either way, I don't know it, but I'll learn it.
Oftentimes, my friends will talk about something I don't know much about, and instead of laughing along to fit in, I'll stand back. I'll admit I've never heard of something, or that I don't listen to a type of music. Not only do I learn about more things (because if you just laugh along, you'll never learn about it because everyone will assume you know what they're talking about), but I stay true to myself. I reveal to my friends who I am and what I like and don't like. I don't pretend to like something to be popular or fit in; that's stupid and kind of immature. If I learn about something, I'll do it on my own terms, not in order to be friends with others or look good.
"Make Loud Mistakes" is a phrase that I've carried with me since about 10th grade. It's allowed me to be much more confident, not only in my musical talent, but in my every day life. I know that it's okay for me not to know everything, because nobody does. I can admit when I'm wrong and when I don't know something. By doing that, I can learn more about everything and I don't see that as a bad thing at all.
Mr. Watson's phrase that he nonchalantly threw around the orchestra room has been a major influence in my life, and I encourage you, too, to be humble, ask questions, learn new things, and to make loud mistakes.
