Did you make any mistakes today?
I was in the gym yesterday morning and between sets I was talking to Jim. Jim is a retired insurance entrepreneur and a really nice guy. Anyway, somehow we got on the topic of people tending to be afraid to make a mistake. It was a refreshing conversation in that Jim has the same perspective on making mistakes that I do….and that is this: You can’t make mistakes unless you are trying to do something! To which I add the next piece…You can’t try to do something worth anything unless you are willing to make mistakes!
You can’t make mistakes unless you are trying to do something!
I looked Jim in the eye and I smiled and I said I hope I make a lot more mistakes in my life…and Jim just smiled, because he knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. You can’t stumble unless you are moving forward, you can’t feel frustration unless you are unsatisfied with the where you are in some kind of journey.
You can’t try to do something worth anything unless you are willing to make mistakes!
No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Certainly you want to learn from them so you don’t make the same ones twice…although I often do! The key is are you stretching yourself in life? Are you working at developing something? Pursuing something? Then you need to know that you will make mistakes and that actually, you should be making mistakes. It’s a requirement. It’s part of the learning curve.
To have a higher quality of life, it is essential to pursue the next level of all important facets of life. This means constantly going into uncharted territory, and this creates opportunities for missteps…but this is where the excitement and the living really is.
Whatever you pursue, you won’t be as good in the early stages as you will be after you work forward for a little bit…so you will make some mistakes. And that’s okay. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes…and don’t be afraid to admit them when you do.
