…sticky notes

The man or woman who makes no mistakes has tried too little. Mistakes, though we may not like to admit it, are part of living. According to the powers that be, a ‘mistake’ is, technically, a misguided or incorrect action or judgement. In itself, a mistake is simply a misstep – a stray move from the path of life. The intent of the action, the drive behind the judgment, is not in question. Jumping may not have been a bad idea, the landing just didn’t work out. So, we have a choice: stay down, or get back up.

I pray we get back up.

Some of the greatest triumphs ride on the backs of mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, yet not everyone gets back up. Still, everyone makes mistakes.

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. -Oscar Wilde, playwright and poet

Experience is making mistakes and learning from them. -Bill Ackman, hedge fund manager and CEO

I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain. -Muhammad Ali, boxer

If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes. -John Wooden, basketball player and coach

Mistakes are part of the game. It’s how well you recover from them, that’s the mark of a great player. -Alice Cooper, singer and songwriter

Sticky notes, or, more specifically, Post-It Notes, were a mistake. The scientist responsible for the not-too-sticky, repeatedly applicable adhesive had intended to create a super-strong, aerospace adhesive. An airplane adhesive mistake lets us stick notes everywhere.

In any moment, the overflow of the mind spills to a sticky note. A new idea, saved for later; a to-do list, stuck in plain sight; a doodle, tossed to the side; a messy sentence, scrawled hastily. Sticky notes beg us to make mistakes, to let our brains pour out whatever waits on top, and see what happens.

Most of the time, the surface of my desk is more mistakes than successes. It’s a pile of crumpled up sticky notes next to a haphazard layer of reminders. The happy thoughts are in permanent marker, pressed neatly in a row to last for weeks. Broken thoughts and frustrations are scratched with pen, ready to be torn and discarded with the others. Secrets are penciled in, smudged out, and buried within the mess. Half-finished to-do lists crinkle under my wrists, faded by the sun of the last few months. The sticky notes can be practical, they can hold the heaviest thoughts or the lightest messages, they can be wadded up, and they can be mistakes.

Whether the list gets finished or abandoned, the sticky note doesn’t care. Whether the words deserved to be written or belonged in the trash, the sticky note doesn’t care. Whether the message held truth or dripped lies, the sticky note doesn’t care. The sticky note can be a mistake.

Mistakes are part of living, and I am determined to live until it kills me. Some people will share in more mistakes than others. Some mistakes will be bigger than others, some will cut deeper than others, some will be tougher to recover from than others. We get back up. We take what was supposed to be an airplane adhesive and leave a reminder on our desk to try again. A good idea, a wholesome intent, went off the path – mistakes are part of living. What matters is if we get back up.