Admitting You are Wrong

Cognitive dissonance is what we feel when the self-concept — I’m smart, I’m kind, I’m convinced this belief is true — is threatened by evidence that we did something that wasn’t smart, that we did something that hurt another person, that the belief isn’t true. To reduce dissonance, we have to modify the self-concept or accept the evidence. Guess which route people prefer?

We cling to old ways of doing things, even when new ways are better and healthier and smarter. We cling to self-defeating beliefs long past their shelf life. And we make our partners, co-workers, parents and kids really, really mad at us.

 Carol Tavris quotes in the New York Times and co-author of the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)

Avoiding Failure 

When avoiding failure is a primary focus, the work isn’t just more stressful; it’s a lot harder to do. And over the long run, that mental strain takes a toll, resulting in less innovation and the experience of burnout. Ironically, allowing for mistakes to happen can elevate the quality of our performance. It’s true even within roles that don’t require creativity.

Ron Friedman, The Best Place to Work

The Beginner's Mind

A child does not know what is not possible and so was open to exploration, discovery, and experimentation. If you approach create tasks with the beginner's mind, you can see things more clearly as they are, unburden by your fixed views, habits, or what conventional wisdom says it is (or should be). 

One who possesses a beginner's mind is not burdened by old habits or obsessed about "the way things are done around here" or with the way things could have or should have been done. 

If you approach a task with a beginner's mind, you’re not afraid of being wrong. The fear of making a mistake, of risking an error, or of being told you’re wrong is constantly with us. And that’s a shame. Making mistakes is not the same thing as being creative, but if you’re not willing to make mistakes then it is impossible to be truly creative.  

Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen