Embracing Instinct: The Value of Personal Agency in Mistakes
Created at: July 30, 2025
Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s. — Billy Wilder
The Essence of Trusting Yourself
Billy Wilder’s quote underscores the significance of relying on one’s own judgment, especially in uncertain situations. Trusting your own instinct means choosing to guide your decisions independently, rather than outsourcing responsibility to others. This sense of self-trust fosters authenticity, enabling individuals to live lives aligned with their true values and desires rather than external expectations.
Ownership Over Mistakes
Transitioning from self-trust, Wilder addresses the inevitability of mistakes. By making your own choices, any errors that arise are genuinely yours—a vital distinction. This notion echoes the ancient maxim, ‘To err is human.’ When mistakes result from personal decisions, they offer fertile ground for growth and genuine learning, rather than sowing regret or resentment toward others whose advice proved faulty.
Lessons Gleaned From Personal Failure
This leads to the transformative potential of self-made mistakes. Notably, Thomas Edison’s thousands of failed attempts to invent the lightbulb were stepping stones shaped by his own determination. When failures are self-directed, their lessons resonate more deeply, fortifying resilience and adaptability. In contrast, mistakes made on borrowed judgment can feel hollow, depriving us of both pride in our process and ownership of outcomes.
The Limitations of Following Others
Moreover, delegating decisions to others can undermine your sense of agency. By following the crowd or heeding unsolicited advice, you risk living by someone else’s script rather than your own. This cautionary idea appears in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay ‘Self-Reliance’ (1841), which warns against the ‘hobgoblin of little minds’—the conformity that stifles individual creativity.
Cultivating Courage Through Independence
Ultimately, embracing your instincts—and accepting the possibility of error—cultivates courage. Individuals who own their choices forge resilient self-confidence and a willingness to innovate. By welcoming the consequences, whether triumph or failure, you build an authentic path defined as much by bold attempts as by learned lessons. In this, Wilder’s advice stands as a call to lead life on your own terms.