surfing the web i came across this article by Malcom Gladwell, an author i recognized earlier, reading his book "Outliers".

THE GIFT OF DOUBT - Albert O. Hirschman and the power of failure

Creativity always comes as a surprise to us; therefore we can never count on it and we dare not believe in it until it has happened. In other words, we would not consciously engage upon tasks whose success clearly requires that creativity be forthcoming. Hence, the only way in which we can bring our creative resources fully into play is by misjudging the nature of the task, by presenting it to ourselves as more routine, simple, undemanding of genuine creativity than it will turn out to be.

I find it always so refreshing to find proof of what i like to live. There is no way to grow, exept you try things and accept the chance of failure. Mistakes are what will move you further. Just waiting to become perfect without trying won't work. In this article Malcom writes mostly about the story of Hirschman, a successfull economist. And i find it truly inspiring that the economic world and the creative world are not that far apart. 

Success grew from failure

.. and there is no better teacher, Hirschman felt, than a little adversity.

The economist was interested in all the ways in which projects managed to succeed, both in spite of and because of the difficulties:

Instead of asking: what benefits [has] this project yielded, it would almost be more pertinent to ask: how many conflicts has it brought in its wake? How many crises has it occasioned and passed through? And these conflicts and crises should appear both on the benefit and the cost side, or sometimes on one—sometimes on the other, depending on the outcome (which cannot be known with precision for a long time, if ever).

“Proving Hamlet wrong” was about the importance of acting in the face of doubt—but also of acting in the face of fear.

read the full article on NEW YORKER