It's Not How Bad You F*@K Up...

Jan 8, 2018
2 min read

When I was in middle school, I learned a lesson that has become somewhat of a personal motto.

While taking a ceramics class, yes you read that right, I had made a mistake on a project after it had gone through the kiln. Now, had I made this mistake before it went through the fires of the kiln it would not have been a big deal. The soft malleable clay is easy to fix and reshape, but once it goes through the kiln it is set and hardened.

There I stood, broken eagle wing in hand; completely devastated. I had worked so hard shaping it. Getting the details of the wings, making sure all the air bubbles were out; only to make a stupid mistake as I sanded. Seeing my disappointment, my teacher walked over to me asked what was going on. I showed him the wing. He examined it and said something I will never forget:

“It’s not how bad you fuck up, but how well you fix it.”

Being 13 years old and hearing your teacher curse was enough to make an impression. But what he said struck a chord. I realized at that moment, it was ok to make a mistake. It was ok to fail, but you had to work to fix it. You weren’t allowed to rollover and die because of a little mistake. You can’t take away the hours of shaping clay and detailing because of an imperfection. You must work to fix it. And if you can’t you have the satisfaction of knowing that you did everything you can to make it work.

I have tried to teach this to everyone I have worked with, every intern who is just getting started, and frankly anyone who will listen. Whenever there is a mistake in a project, I think about that eagle and think how do we fix this. I ended up getting a 98 on the project, but the lesson was far beyond that grade.

Unfortunately the Ceramic Eagle itself is long gone. Lost somewhere in the pit of school projects and knick knacks from long ago. It seems silly now to have been upset about the wing of a ceramic eagle, but this lesson and this story has stayed with me. What I learned that day has helped to shape me be the person I am today.