Miles Davis says, there is no such thing as a mistake.

How can we understand the truth within this seemingly odd idea?

We’ll explore how to gently reframe errors as part of our creative rhythm, not as failures that derail us. We'll consider how to distinguish between

- an error (a deviation from our path),

- a mistake (an unacknowledged error), and

- a lesson (an acknowledged opportunity to learn).

This episode features an original piano composition called *Enter*

For more, subscribe and visit rhythmsoffocus.com.

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Transcript

A jazz musician. Miles Davis once said, "don't fear mistakes. There are none." Now I might wonder if that would go for the pilot flying my plane, there's still a powerful depth of truth and beauty in the statement.

Today's episode, I'll be reading a passage from my book, workflow Mastery about Error, mistake, and Lesson.

And I hope you enjoy it.

I make mistakes. I'm convinced that no one can avoid making mistakes despite the authority with which miles may make his claim.

But there's a beauty and truth within that phrase. Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

While I do not know for certain if "no mistakes" is applicable to every craft beyond art, its presence as a path in art is undeniable.

The lesson as I understand it, is of learning and adapting to what is originally perceived as error so that it becomes a path towards mastery, even in the moments of improvisation.

I imagine that at least some of this concept bears truth in all endeavors. We can distinguish the ideas, the concepts between error, mistake and lesson.

An error is a perceived deviation from a path towards a vision.

Deviations are influenced by whatever reality throws at us. Reality may include any object, including those external to ourselves or even meaning itself. If, for instance, we assume a meaning of something to be different than what it does mean, maybe by way of not seeing it's unconscious elements, then it's an error.

On the other hand, we may discover some incompatibility between vision and reality. In setting the alarm clock for 6:00 AM to begin a 7:00 AM workday, we may have neglected to take into account the preparations for the morning and the commute amounting to 75 minutes of time.

A mistake is an unacknowledged error.

A lesson is an acknowledged opportunity to learn, such as an acknowledged error.

So in this way, acknowledgement is precisely the difference between mistake and lesson. The degree to which an error is acknowledged in a depth of its details is the degree to which the lesson it provides may become useful.

We may then decide for or against developing that lesson as an intention for learning.

Acknowledgement allows an error to become a lesson. It brings an object's consideration to our sense of agency. We can then create the playgrounds, workspaces, habits, systems, and other means of organizing to effectively develop any intention based on this error, and we turn it into a lesson.

In the case of the alarm, we may ignore it or chastise ourselves for being lazy or incapable of predicting time. We may instead decide it's meaningful to sleep and therefore make arrangements for an earlier time for bed. On the other hand, we may realize a much greater meaning found in a sense of irritation with the work itself, and that we've just unconsciously acted out against it.

It becomes clear that errors may be viewed as not necessarily objects themselves so much as their misalignments between vision and reality.

The degree to which we can acknowledge the discrepancies between vision and reality is the degree to which we can see the depth of meaning behind our errors, the fault lines, and consequently turn them into useful lessons, as daunting as that may be.

A troublesome societal comment is that we only fail when we stop trying. Well, this may ring true in some sense. It does not take meaning into account. The energy of our lives measured in motivation and time is limited. Deciding that we've made an error in placing our efforts poorly and then consciously and carefully recalibrating is not failure.

It's learning. We fail if we stop trying to find and develop a meaningful flow as a union of play and work in our lives, not in completing some specific task or project.

If though, we find we must repeatedly drop or change varying projects. Such a process can be very disheartening. Wading through the confusion of repeated incomplete visions threatens to drown us in a lack of confidence.

Any potential lessons offered by error can be mired in these feelings of futility.

A compass of meaning, however, can provide continuous direction. We can break down the obstacle before us into smaller and smaller components until finally that smallest aspect of the obstacle may be overcome.

We can do it again and again. Learning from our errors and presumptions, organizing, reorganizing, gaining courage, confidence to continue moving forward.

All the while we can acknowledge that the onslaught of unrewarded attempts may very well continue. If we realize the path before us is mistaken, or its meaning has been lost, we can rest in a pause to reflect upon meaning.

The compass may yet change what we thought was important, may only have been a facet of something deeper. We might decide to continue forward despite the hostility of conditions before us.

Sometimes we do require luck.

Creative works may require a degree of being in the right place at the right time, and many artists whose works are not accepted when an audience is unable to hear or see the meaning of the work, whether because of the lack of development or because the myriad conditions for its communication were just not right.

So much of the groundwork to develop our art is communication is below the radar of community. Years and years may be spent in isolation before we've mature and craft something suitably. Find a receptive audience, cultivate a good path for the communication of that work, and there's no guarantee that it ever will be found.

Yet. Continued persistence is required for meaningful work to have a chance at finding a community. For this reason, among others, I define success as the process of bringing play into work such that the world feeds back and sustains that person in play.

Failure is when we stop the continued attempts of finding and fostering the conditions for play that ultimately develops a sense of meaning.

The mistake is not adapting or learning. Mistakes are a matter of perspective. If they're viewed as ends, then there are failures.

If we are without error, it is only because we haven't tried.

Every attempt to connect with the world requires adjustment. Each attempt to reach out in intention or question is a fumbling of sorts.

It's not that we do not perceive error so much as it is the grace with which we fumble, by which there are no mistakes. The elegance, integrity, honesty, and attempt to learn from our inevitable misalignments between vision and reality, give us our continued path toward mastery.

Today's piece of music I won't say too much on. I think it's a pretty piece. It's called Enter. I performed it live in October of 2025. I hope you enjoy.

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