Making Mistakes
Since starting on my degree and career path, I have made big and small mistakes. Some of these mistakes have been private and easily corrected, others have been public or irreversible. While I recognize that everyone makes mistakes, I find them hard to move past.
Often times, when I discover I’ve made a mistake, I can think, “Okay, how can I solve this problem?” I can work my way through the steps to correct it. If that means making a phone call, offering an apology, putting in some extra work, I am able to meet that need and own my error.
The part that I struggle with the most is after the mistake, when the dust has settled. I internalize the mistake and wonder how I made it in the first place. I expect perfection and am disappointed in myself when I do not meet that.
This kind of thinking is debilitating. It prevents me from pushing myself harder and further. When I am presented with an opportunity that I want to take, I stop and think about the mistakes that I have made and doubt myself. “If I couldn’t handle that small task, could I handle this big task?”
While clearly this is something I struggle with, this is not how we should approach mistakes. In fact, mistakes– while frustrating and time consuming– can indeed be the learning opportunities that the folk tales make them out to be. It is true that everyone makes mistakes. We are human, after all. How we handle and view these mistakes is what separates the starting team and the practice team. The practice team continues to make the same mistakes and avoids taking risks, sticking to tried and true predictable plays.
The starting team is adaptable, willing to change the game, striving to stand out and make their name known. They analyze their mistakes and change their strategy to perfect their game plan. For this reason, the starting team will continue to make mistakes– bigger mistakes, different mistakes. They aren’t the starting team because they don’t ever make mistakes. No, they are the starting team because they know how to handle mistakes when they happen, they can still make the play, and they strategize on how to avoid those mistakes in the future.
It scares me at times to push forward when I feel vulnerable, but I also recognize there is value in making mistakes. My mistakes will become bigger as I push myself further. Being able to solve those new, bigger problems is a marked measure of my personal and professional growth.
How do you approach mistakes? What are your strategies to turn failures into successes?