better by mistake - a book giveaway!
When New York Times columnist Alina Tugend realized that she had made a mistake in her column, her first instinct was to disown or cover it up and then rationalize that a correction wasn't really needed. The "cover up" moment quickly passed and she worked with her editor to submit a correction.
Lucky for us, when she began thinking about her next column she decided to write about her experience and why she so hated having to do that public correction. The column became one of the most emailed essays at The Times.
Prompted by the extraordinary outpouring of responses to her article on mistakes, Tugend has written a book that draws on the latest research, and numerous interviews with leading experts, psychologists, sociologists and more to reveal how mistake-avoidance can affect us from the earliest stages in our lives and shape us into adults who steer clear of risks and challenges.
She writes, "Most Americans absorb a culture of mistake-evasion virtually from birth, but the cost is high. By avoiding errors we stifle creativity, innovation, and the ability to grow and learn in all walks of life."
In Better by Mistake, Tugend turns our cultural wisdom on its head to show us the downside of striving for perfection and the rewards of acknowledging and accepting mistakes and embracing our imperfections. I love the way she cracks open the myths that we so readily believe. For example,
Myth: Perfectionists make better workers.
Fact: Many perfectionists fear challenging tasks, take fewer risks, and are less creative than nonperfectionists. One research study found that perfectionists performed more poorly than their counterparts in a writing task. It may be that perfectionists so dread receiving feedback that they don't develop the same writing skills as nonperfectionists.
I've learned so much from this book. It's confirmed my own research about perfectionism, shame, and vulnerability, and it's helped me make new connections in my personal and work life.
I'd love to share this book with you, so leave your name in the comments section and I'll send the winner a copy of Better by Mistake and The Gifts of Imperfection. The winner will be announced on Wednesday (as an update to this post).
