Do you count your mistakes or your solutions?

The desire for everything to run smoothly is a false goal - it leads to measuring people by the mistakes they make rather than by their ability to solve problems. - Ed Catmull

There is this concept that a good day is one that ran smoothly. It exists in business, in motherhood, event planning and even vacations.  There is this pressure, then, to not make mistakes. Mistakes take time to fix, which uses more resources. Time and money spent on fixing mistakes is seen as wasted.

"Measure twice; cut once."

But mistakes are inevitable and are part of the learning experience. People that never make mistakes never take risks. Problem solvers may be able to fix mistakes with less resources or may identify problems earlier so that less damaging mistakes are made. Planning, information gathering, and double-checking is important. But equally important is taking action. Some even argue for taking action faster, so you can make mistakes faster, so you can fix them faster. As a recovering perfectionist this whole concept makes me squeamish, but it does make a little sense. I'd argue for striking a balance between preparation and action.

Focusing on problem solving, rather than the mistake, is a positive action to move forward. The faster the focus to turns to problem solving, the faster you can recover from any setbacks.

When was the last problem you solved?