They’re only mistakes until you correct them
Ever notice just how often that thing on your phone known as “auto-correct” is so absolutely and totally wrong? I think they call it auto-correct because the users are going to have to automatically correct everything themselves.
It even makes mistakes with the simplest of words — and seems to replace them with words I’ve never typed into a message before, but are “technically” words because they do appear in some dictionary somewhere.
More importantly, you’d think it would know by now that I almost never intend to use the word “duck” (so stop auto-correcting my Fs!!).
Mistakes Are Expected
Why are some people so upset with themselves when they make an error?
Why are others continually surprised when they find an error in their work?
Too many people let their mistakes haunt them.
I figure I’m not finished proofing my work until I find at least a couple mistakes I need to fix, and I’m never upset after I hit the Publish button and a reader sends me an email telling my they found a typo in the article I just proofread. Writers are the absolute worst at proofreading their own work immediately after writing it.
If you want better self-editing results, put your work aside and proofread it a couple days later. If you want really good editing results, put your work aside and hire an editor to proofread it a couple days later!
Mistakes Are Temporary
Text editing programs after buttons for “delete”, “backspace”, and menu options and keyboard shortcuts to “undo” any mistakes you (or others) may find in your work. You simply open the file, make the fix, save it, close the document, and POOF… No more mistakes!
There are erasers for pencil marks made in error and there are bottles of Wite-Out for mistakes made in ink.
You even have the options to physically shred your paper or crumble it into a ball to destroy the evidence of your mistakes (you could always burn it in a fire pit!) and recreate the entire thing in a new and improved format. Mistakes are to be expected. Plan for them.
Once mistakes have been updated and replaced, they are no longer mistakes. They are Corrections.
