Learning by Screwing Up
In case you’re wondering, this site is undergoing major remodeling because I screwed up. While trying to update WordPress that runs this web site, something happened that killed the entire site. I have backups (fortunately), but it will involve a time-consuming process to put everything back together again so over the next few weeks, expect this site to slowly get back to where it should have been. Sadly, this is the second time this has happened. The first time occurred with a deleted database and this second time occurred through a faulty update process.
So now I’ve taken this time to reorganize everything, figuring I might as well start from scratch and recreate everything in a more organized and streamlined fashion so the information is easier to find and retrieve. When learning anything new, plan on screwing up big time. That’s just the nature of learning. By preparing yourself for screwing up, you’ll be ready to move on when you do. The best way to learn anything is to find out what doesn’t work and then make sure you don’t do that again.
In the world of screenwriting, the biggest problem I see with many people is that they’re afraid to screw up. So they don’t bother trying. You have to screw up. Failure is part of learning. The more you fail, the more you’ll learn. If you try to avoid screwing up, you’ll never learn. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. There’s something horribly wrong with never making mistakes because that means you’re not pushing yourself.
If you play it safe and stick with what you know, you’ll never grow anywhere beyond the boundaries you already have. Taking a risk is what life is about or else you can sit at home, watch TV, and wait to die. You might as well get up and try to pursue your dreams because in the long run, you’re going to die anyway so you might as well have fun and strive for your dreams while you can.
When most people feel despair, the first thing they do is give up on their dreams. Instead, the last thing people should ever give up are their dreams. Dreams keep you motivated and give meaning to your life. Without a dream that you’re constantly striving to achieve every day with every thought going into pursuing that dream, life can seem pretty empty. While if you pursue your dream, you’ll see something new everyday in yourself or those around you, and you’ll gradually get better as long as you’re willing to learn and by learning, you have to screw up.
The more you screw up, the more you’ll learn, just as long as you don’t keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. So don’t give up, and while you’re busy putting together your screenplay, I’ll be busy putting this site back together again (for the second time in the past few years).
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