The fastest way to learn new skills is to fail fast.

But you can only learn through your failures if you're aware of them and can get comfortable with pushing past those challenges.

Last week, I shared that I was learning leathercraft so I can make notebook covers for my hand-made pocket notebooks. To help accelerate my learning I took notes during the entire process in a pocket notebook. I took a few seconds to jot down any mistakes I made and what I might do differently next time to fix it. I also tracked a rough estimate of how much time each phase took me. This ensured that the next time I went to start my next project, I had a log of mistakes to avoid and an accurate idea of how long the project took.

Now why does this matter? Can't you just remember your mistakes and move on without writing them down?

Studies have shown we remember things better when we write them down by hand. But more than that, articulating your process, your mistakes, and your thinking during an experience helps you understand why the problems occured in the first place. You can spot flaws in your order of operation and your preperation. You can start to make predictions about how long it will take to do certain things and find ways to become more efficient.

Then, there's the narrative. When you document your learning journey you construct a real-time story filled with failures and successes. The notebook becomes a story-book for you to reflect on how far you've come.

This point often gets overlooked by people who are anxious to be hyper-productive and efficient which, describes me at times.

"Why waste time writing down these silly thoughts when I could be getting more reps in?"

The biggest motivating power we can all tap into is progress toward a meaningful goal.

It's that sense of moving forward and getting closer that compels us to jump out of bed to work on a project. A learning journal becomes that visual evidence of progress. The pages filled with mistakes that you've run into and how you overcame them. The entries, a snapshot into the mind of a complete beginner, will seem so foreign to you as time passes and your expertise grows. You won't even believe that you used to struggle with some of the basics of the craft. But it will all be layed out, in a single notebook, documenting all the progress you've made toward that meaningful goal.

That story will motivate you to see how far you can go.

Update From Last Week

The biggest problem with my first attempt at a leather notebook cover was the thickness of the leather. Mine was WAY too thick and caused a snowball effect of errors in each stage of the process.

I thought I could get away from it with a relatively nice looking cover until I punched the stitching holes...

Because the layers of leather were so thick, my chisels mangled the leather while trying to punch the stitching holes in...LESSON LEARNED.

I was devastated. Hours of work completely ruined in a single moment. What the hell am I supposed to do with a trashed journal cover?

I knew the answer as soon as I asked the question.

I'm using this cover to house all of my leathercrafting learning journals going forward. It will serve as a visual reminder of the first major mistake that I made.

And as I get better at this craft, it will be proof of how far I've come.

Prompt

When was a time you made a mistake during a project, but found a clever way to fix it?