Pen, not pencil
For many of us, the first tool we used to express ourselves was the pencil.
Pencils are forgiving, mostly thanks to their sidekick—the eraser.
But forgiveness comes at a cost. We spend time trying to correct our mistakes. To repeat, redo, and revise our work.
One day, a college classmate convinced me to solve Physics problems with a pen.
Pen is the opposite of pencil. More bold and legible, ink is forever.
We can scratch out our mistakes, but the evidence remains. At first, this bothered me tremendously.
But after a while, I started to like it. I felt less worried about the bumps along the way and more concerned with arriving at a good answer. If something went completely off-the-rails, I would just crumple the page and throw it in the corner (or at my friend).
Mistakes are a part of the creative process. The ability to commit to your mistakes and ship your work, imperfect as it is, signals the confidence to express your ideas.
Commit to the process, embrace your humanity, and focus on the outcome, not some perfect journey.