The obituary editor of a city newspaper was not one who would admit his mistakes easily. One day, he got a phone call from an irate subscriber who complained that her name just appeared in the obituary column. “Really?” was the calm reply. “Where are you calling from?”
Of course, there is no shame in making mistakes. They are an important and necessary part of learning.
A young man came in for an interview with his manager. “Tell me,” the young man asked her, “how did you become so successful?”
“Two words,” she said. “Right decisions.”
He asked, “How did you make right decisions?”
“One word – experience.”
“And how did you get experience?”
“Two words,” she said. “Wrong decisions.”
In order to profit from our mistakes, we have to get out and make some. And so long as we keep making different ones each time, we’re learning and growing.
Entertainer Conan O’Brien spoke to the Harvard graduating class of 2000 about some wisdom he gleaned in life. He told them that he wished the best for them. But then he said something interesting. He told them that he also wished that they experience plenty of the bad as well as the good. “Fall down,” he said. “Make a mess. Break something occasionally. Know that your mistakes are your own unique way of getting to where you need to be. And remember that the story is never over.”
Are you feeling badly about a mistake you recently made? Then decide what you will do differently next time, make amends if necessary, and move on.
Are you afraid of taking a necessary risk for fear of making a mistake? Remember, even poor choices are opportunities to learn. How else are you going to learn to make better ones?
So make those mistakes. Make them boldly. In the end, they will make you better. And if you make enough can you become the best ever.
-- Steve Goodier
