fear of making mistakes

Don’t be fearful of trying new things or experiences. You literally won’t know what you are missing until you try it out.

What does this quote mean, "The biggest mistake you could ever make is being too afraid to make one"?

To say what it means it should say something like, “Don’t let your fear of making mistakes stop you from trying, risking, being bold” something like that. This is a good message on its face, at least in some respects, even if it’s put in the odd Commandment form.

Looking at it with a more critical eye, however, the slogan seems one of those propaganda epigrams that says take serious risks, fearlessly pursue your dreams. I once put this in a song called Nothing At All.“Try all you dream, and if you fall, it won’t mean nothing at all” Listeners loved it. I considered it seriously misleading. Since this sort of thing has become so beloved, part of the American dream of opportunity boldly seized, that I’d like to stress the negative here if you’ll pardon the attempt.

The message, so extremely put (the biggest mistake)​ is: without risk and pursuit of dreams, without the prospect of failing, falling on your face, you get nowhere, you don’t succeed in your efforts, you don’t learn to get up, dust yourself off and try again, your life won’t be worth living, or at least you miss out on the most important x and y experiences of being alive, and the rest. Put the message in wordplay form and it seems even more alluring—the biggest mistake is fearing mistakes.

It rises from a good point, in fact, several points. Play it too cautious and you can miss out for example. But as is it is wildly exaggerated and false. If you fall it will mean a lot, it will be horrible. It won’t be the biggest mistake if you fear making mistakes. Killing someone you’re very angry at, that will be the biggest mistake, shooting up a school with an AR.

The message is wildly over-generalized as well. I fear its author may have lacked the perspective that he was viewing others on his own model. To be fairminded, this sort of pitch should come with a plug for prudence. I’ll drop the word play. He who takes big risks often dies or is paralyzed for life, or fails so badly they can never recover. (You never hear of these people, only of those who get out unscathed and go on to great success, learning from failure to rise above it.) Better to make safe and well thought out investments of time, energy and skin.

“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” is a slogan that used to set my teeth on edge as well. Nothing to fear unless you and your family is in your house when it gets bombed by the Nazi Luftwaffe.

It bothers me that people can not design inspiration in more honest, realistic ways and not push a personally favored preference as if all should adopt it. Success can be achieved in many ways. So can great meaning and fulfillment in life. Different strokes for different folks. We should not promote the power of rhetoric, but substance I suspect. So let me try one more time.

It can be a real mistake for some to be too careful, to fear making mistakes. You can learn from them and from failures if they’re not too serious. But more, experimenting, trying out creative but unlikely propositions, can lead to real innovation. Of course, caution is often a counterbalancing asset as well. And the slogan version, “Go for it, but watch out?”

It just means- “Don’t be fearful of trying new things or experiences. You literally won’t know what you are missing until you try it out.”

It is better to go through life having new experiences rather than doing the same thing day in and day out. There’s time for that when you become physically old, and can’t do much.

Life has a lot to offer, and it is short, so make hay while the sun shines. There is no time for regrets.

Don’t limit yourself saying you are not good, you are not pretty, you are too shy, you are too fearful, or you don’t have the money.

Every new experience teaches you something.

If you like to dance or sing, do it now!