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I love to talk to children about making mistakes. It's important that I tell them about how I don't get it right the first time. We live in such a perfectionist society, and they see so many finished products and polished performances.

Coming up with a way to fix mistakes challenges your creativity and your critical thinking skills and your resourcefulness. Often you end up with something better than what you planned on in the first place.

I'm pretty aware that the pursuit of perfection is, inherently, a flawed concept.

You can't expect perfection. It is important to sort of acknowledge some of our imperfections. I write them down. There's something about acknowledging mistakes and being able to put them down on paper; they become facts of your life that you must live with. And then, hopefully, you can navigate the road a little bit better.

I'm a perfectionist, which I think is a mistake.

I noticed that when it came time to improvise, my students would often make mistakes.

As for all those mistakes I make - they are on purpose - to teach you how to deal with them.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

The relentless pursuit of perfection has been my problem over the years. It's maybe held me back.

People tell me being a perfectionist is a fault, but I find that's what drives me.