Some mistakes grow back like a bad haircut. Others don’t. Know which kind you’re making.

Most mistakes are recoverable, and treating every one as a catastrophe will keep you from trying anything at all. A bad grade, an embarrassing message, a job you were wrong about: these grow out. A smaller number are different, usually the ones involving a body, a record or somebody’s trust in you, and those do not simply pass with time.

Before something risky, ask which category it is in. If it grows back, go ahead and be wrong. If it does not, slow all the way down and get another opinion first.