Mistakes Are Meh.

​ Part of being lazy is about not giving a single fuck and when it comes to not giving a single fuck, you have to say “Mistakes are Meh”. You remain unfazed if you mess up or things don’t go as planned. You just lay back, relax, and try again...eventually.




If you do worry about mistakes, then you’re getting worked up. That’s work. You don’t want to do *any* sort of work; you’re lazy. Simmer it down and be cool. Don’t let a failure or mistake get you down in the dumps or destroy you.

The Lazy Mindset is all about one of slow growth over time. There’s no rush to do things perfect right away. Success is the process of learning and developing and includes mistakes as well as failures and is NOT the lack of failure itself; it is not perfection.


“I failed my way to success.” — Thomas Edison


Mistakes and failure are all part of the human experience, and that’s all it is - an experience. Mistakes do not make up who you are. Failure is not to be intertwined your personal identity. Mistakes are meh. They happen and it’s no big deal, man. Don’t let it consume you. You must look at your failure as expansion, growth, and opportunity, instead of a detrimental stopping point with no chance of recovery.

Have you ever told yourself...

- “I’m such a fuck up”

- “I’m not dating material”

- “I’m just a bad employee”



Don’t do that. Don’t.

Seriously.

That’ll rip apart your confidence and self dignity.



Instead you should be thinking…

- THAT was not a good decision.

- THAT date did not go well

- THAT project wasn’t good quality.


See, you flip your perspective of the failure being an inner-flaw to an outer dilemma that can be resolved or learned from. The outer failure is malleable and changeable. You can learn from it, adapt, and overcome in the future. The inner failure, on the other hand, one in which you identify with, makes you feel like it’s “set in stone” and not going to change.

When you see yourself as the reason for mistakes, internally, you will believe that there is not anything you can do to change or fix it -- it’s natural and the way things are. But when you see the mistake as an external cause, you can do things *differently* next time to change it.

You can improve slowly over time and there’s no rhyme or reason to try and get it perfect the first time around, or at the very least pressure yourself to do so then feel worthless if you land anywhere less than perfect. Just because you slip up does not mean you are a slip up.



We’re not born with anxiety to fear failure, it’s taught.

Somehow, under the pressure of society and work hard mantra driven in our minds nonstop, we lose that laid back attitude we have as a child.

If it was natural to see the result of failure as a personal concept, rather than an exterior one, then you’d be walking around with your shoes untied. Think about all the times you failed to tie your shoes properly as a kid.

You didn’t think “I’m not a shoe tier”. No, you thought: “I can’t tie my shoes, yet.”

Yet.

It was something practical to work towards, not a reflection of who you were.


“Failure is an event, never a person.” — William D. Brown


Similarly, when you learned how to ride a bike. You fell, got hurt, but it wasn’t that “I’m not a bike rider”, it was “I can’t ride a two wheeler yet.”

Yet. You knew that you would learn how and be able to do it eventually, at some point. It didn’t matter when. You accepted that you were just learning and that was okay. Mistakes were meh. (They still are; you’ve just shifted your mindset to think otherwise, thanks to your corporate indoctrination at no fault of your own)

What happened?

You got so caught up in this hardworking society that teaches you Results = Success

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Relax man, results aren’t success. Just because you can’t do it today doesn’t mean you won’t be able to tomorrow.

And as ProcrastiN8rs we’re all about doing things tomorrow. That’s our favorite date of the year!

The Lazy MasterMinds that own and run this country want you to feel anxiety about failure so that you’re too afraid to do your own thing and settle for a “safe” desk job as a good corporate slave.



The real truth of the matter is:

Progress = Success



Or at the very least, progress leads to success.


We see successful people: celebrities and businessmen/business-women living in the glories of success. We only look at the destination and pay no attention to the journey.



The journey is a slow, and full of hiccups. Here are some celebrities and succesful people that have failed, made mistakes, or gotten rejected during their career


Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and Space Jam champion, was actually rejected by his high school team because he didn’t have good enough skills on the court.


Warren Buffet, a billionaire investor, was rejected by Harvard.


Academy Award winning Director, Steven Spielberg was rejected not just once, but TWICE by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.


Walt Disney was told by a news editor that he lacked “imagination. Yeah, that Disney.


Jerry Seinfeld has a terrible stage fright and panic attack the first time he tried stand up and was booed off stage.


Dr. Seuss had his books turned down not once, not twice, but 27 times. Likewise, Stpehen King had his first novel, Carrie, rejected 30 times


Elvis Presley, the King of Rock, was fired after his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry.


The list goes on and on. So much success and so much failure. Imagine if these people quit after their failure -- we wouldn't have the awesome music and entertainment we have today.

We see someone with rich and fame and say “They’re talented. They’re smart. They’re beautiful. They’re lucky.” We make the fruits of success about some sort of attribute that’s a part of them, rather than the sort of steps they took to actually get there. We even have phrases like “oh s/he has a natural talent for that sort of thing”.


Everyone talks about this “naturalness” and “destiny” of success, but no one talks about the amount of failure successful people have gone through to achieve what they have.





We tend to believe this false notion  that the wealth and popularity that successful people currently possess is just something they got because that’s “who they are”.


Break that habit of tying success/failure to identity for yourself as well as others. Start to see celebrities and other successful people as normal people who have failed enough times and found what works; they are procrastin8rs who said “mistakes are meh” anytime they fucked up, not these mythical talented gods and goddesses that were simply “blessed” by some divine force or magical power.

Success/failure is not bound by the rules of genetics or the destiny of our stars. It’s not a trait passed on down from generation to generation. It is learned and acquired through the mindset of “mistakes are meh” and not caring about failure or rejection.

You are not inherently a failure. You are not inherently a mistake. Though you can train your brain to think that way and convince yourself it’s true, it is absolutely not -- not at all!



You’ve made mistakes before. Heck, you’ve pissed and shit your pants before -- ya know, like as a toddler before you were potty trained. We all have.

You didn’t try to make “pants pee-er” part of your identity, so why do that now that you’re older? Why convince yourself that you are incompetent (or maybe incontinent) now?

You’re already capable of taking mistakes in stride, like water off a turtle’s back. You just have to tap into that mindset again, and it’s not that hard.

Failure comes part and parcel with invention. It’s not optional. We understand that and believe in failing early and iterating until we get it right. – Jeff Bezos, Amazon


Mistakes are meh. They’re no big deal. They really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. So what if it doesn’t work? So what if you get rejected.

It. Doesn’t. Matter.

You’re going to fuck up. And that’s okay. One fuck up doesn’t mean you are a fuck up. You lost one battle, not the whole quest.

There’s been a recent plethora of these “rougue-lite” games coming out, like Rogue Legacy, Spelunky,Dead Cells, Binding of Issac, Risk of Rainor Cave Blazers, where death is part of the game. You go through a procedurally generated dungeon, fighting enemies and collecting weapons, jumping platforms, and then you die.

You die and you die a lot and each time you die, you start all the way over...FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME!



...but you know what? You keep going back and playing more.

Why though?

I mean if failure is such a bad thing and something so terrible, what would compel anyone to want to play a game where failure is literally a core game mechanic? Yet alone how could such a game gain rave from critics and even awards like Dead Cells’ Game of the Year title?

Well...it’s because after each death, you learn from your mistakes and become better at playing (skill wise), and you also unlock new abilities, items, & perks to help you overcome the challenges in the next “run”. This feeling of progress is what makes rogue-lite so fun. You also get to explore new territory and get an adrenaline rush by not knowing what’s gonna come up next. The game constantly changes up on you with its RNG level generation and item spawn systems. Sometimes you have good luck, sometimes you have bad luck, but either way you have progress.

When you die/fail, you have to start from scratch, from the beginning, losing all your collected items, stats, and powerups during that "run". It's the most punishing and rewarding experience at the same time.

In the same vein, IRL, failure is not game over. It’s part of the process and learning curve of leveling up your own skills, abilities, and knowledge. You are not “defeated” just because you’ve come across a single defeat. Even if you reach rock bottom and have to "start over", you now  have new knowledge, skills, and experience that you didn't have before hitting that failure. You can delve deeper in the dungeon, move closer toward your end goal next time.


“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald





Life is also as unpredictable as a procedurally generated dungeon but with enough failure you’ll have the knowledge and skills capable enough to overcoming any situation, obstacle, or enemy.

If there’s anything rogue lites teach us it’s that “mistakes are meh” and failure is part of the fun in achieving your end goal.

Yes, luck can play a bit of a role, and things may not always go in your favor, but that doesn't stop you from trying again.  It actually becomes quite addicting to fail, learn, adapt and overcome, which is why these rogue-lite games are gaining such traction in the indie gaming realm.

If it seems too much of a burden to create failure in real life and train yourself to become numb to it and not care, you can accomplish this virtually. (Seriously, go grab yourself a copy of Dead Cells or Binding of Issac or any of the games I just mentioned. They’re budget cheap, like under 20 bucks and will give you hours upon of entertainment, plus get you to naturally pick up a “mistakes are meh” attitude once you finally beat it. Talk about value! I'm not trying to make that sound too salesy. I'm just telling you from one cheap ass gamer to another.)

If you’re not moving towards your goals, it’s likely not because you’re lazy but because you’re afraid.

“I think it’s important to have a good hard failure when you’re young… Because it makes you kind of aware of what can happen to you. Because of it I’ve never had any fear in my whole life when we’ve been near collapse and all of that. I’ve never been afraid.” - Walt Disney


But we’ll dive into the difference between fear and laziness in a future blog post.

Later.

For now, though:

Go out there and fail! At least you'll get xp anyway.




 ”The Most Successful People Aren’t Afraid to Fail”  - C.J. McCollum


Take it real easy,

-N8