Let me start off by saying that it is okay to be wrong.
Let me explain.
In my coaching business I see so many people get upset when they make a mistake. Â This could be one that costs them a client, a friend, or another thing all together. Â And many times those little accidents are only perceived as a mistake when to find out later that you actually made a mistake about making a mistake. Â Funny how that happens.
Let me start off with a story. Â All good things in life are derived from stories. Â Or at least, from my own perception of an event.
There is a saying, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. Â I’m positive a doer makes mistakes.” Â This was a quote from John Wooden.
Here is the great thing about making mistakes. Â It means you are willing to take a chance on something you may not be too familiar with. Â And if you do make a mistake, even a big one, the best thing to do is to learn from it. Â You learn a lot more from the mistakes, the blunders in life than you often do from the successes.
A mistake is taking a chance on something working the way you want yet when it doesn’t then you must learn from it. Â Review those mistakes. Â The thing you must really learn is to know why the result came from the actions you took. Â Were there anything that could be done differently. Â Or is there anything that was outside of your control.
I know a very recent mistake that I made was putting together part of my website. Â I decided I would make the first page picture to be one picture. Â At that time it was a scrolling set of 4 pictures with verbiage covering. Â The replacement photo was a photo of myself on the left with a background of my name and what I do on the right. Â All of this was created using a website like Canva.
Thus, I turned off the scroll and put up the picture. Â It looked great on my laptop. Â Then one day a week or so later I wanted to access it from my phone. Â And lo and behold the picture was only looking at the center half of the picture. Â It didn’t readjust for the phone. Â So you saw half of my face and half of the text. Â Ooops!
Even though that was not a costly one it did exist out there for over a week. Â This mistake has taught me now to look at all versions of the site (laptop, phone, and tablet) before having it go live.
Another action I recently heard of an executive working for a corporation made a huge error and it cost the company over $100,000. Â The CEO was furious. Â Was that executive fired. Â Most people would have said yes. Â However, this CEO was smart. Â He knew that the executive wasn’t deliberately causing this to happen. Â The CEO told the executive he still had his job and to learn why this happen. Â Firing him and hiring someone else could cause the same thing happen again.
You see we all make them. Â The growth comes from what you learn from them.
Many people will often look at a mistake as a failure. Â This is not true. Â In m opinion there are no failures in life. Â A failure is just a perspective of an outcome.
In NLP there are 14 pre-suppositions that this science is based. Â One of them states “There is no failure, only feedback.” Â And let that sink in. Â If an outcome is not what you expected or to your liking you must only look at that as feedback.
Also mistakes can also be only from a manner of perspective.
About 3 weeks ago a friend reached out to me on Facebook and wanted to be friends. Â This a friend that I knew back in graduate school for a semester or two. Â She was an undergraduate and we met by taking a summer class of tennis. Â This allowed us to become quick friends. Â I even attended her wedding reception.
When the housing market was booming in 2005 and 2006 I recommended that her and her husband should buy in Las Vegas. Â We were skyrocketing. Â When the housing market began to drop in 2007 our communication fell by the wayside.
For 10 years I had thought she was angry at me because I had convinced her to buy and then the market plummeted. Â I felt I had made a huge mistake that cost us our friendship. Â It led to years of guilt on my part. Â I had thought of her from time to time over the years yet never reached out to her in fear.
Then one day she sent me a Facebook friend request and I found out that she had never been angry at me at all. Â It was just a situational thing where she got busy in her life back East.
We are just as close as we were as if 10 years never even happened.
In conclusion, a mistake is there for a reason. Â These so called failures are here to keep us sharp and on point. Â They are here to make sure we are truly dedicated in going after what we want.
So the next time you think you made a mistake or had a perceived failure, take a step back. Â Look at the bigger picture. Â See what you can learn from it all. Â And then make the mental decision to do it better the next time around.
If this mistake involves other people. Â Own up to it and apologize. Â Be the bigger person and take responsibility. Â Yet also say that you will do even better the next time around.
Everyone will make a mistake. Â And that is okay. Â If you didn’t then you wouldn’t be human.
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