“The artist who aims at perfection n everything achieves it in nothing.” Eugene Delacroix

A story told by the amazing Isaac Asimov, who remains, even today, one of the most prolific writers of all time:

While he was in the hospital, Isaac’s beloved wife and occasional coauthor, Janet, brought him the manuscript of his autobiography. It was a long, weighty tome and was eventually published in two volumes totaling 1,500 pages.

A friend paid him a visit one day and found him poring over the pages of his manuscript—a mountainous pile. “What’s that?” He asked.

“My autobiography,” Asimov replied.

“Aha,” his friend said. “Now you’ll have the chance to make yourself out to be a hero.”

“On the contrary,” Asimov confided, “I’m putting in every dumb thing I ever did.”

His friend quickly replied: “No wonder, then, there are so many pages.”

Love this story! It reminds us, doesn’t it, not to take ourselves too seriously. Not to aim for perfection, but to recognize—and even enjoy—our imperfections.

Like our boy Isaac, we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to do “dumb” things. We’re going to go down the wrong road and have to backtrack. So what? Isaac didn’t let his missteps and bloopers stop him from giving free reign to his amazing creativity. Let’s take a leaf from his book, laugh at our mistakes, and all write on!