5 Ways To Make The Most Of The Mistakes You Make In Life

I have made some costly mistakes in my past, how about you? Mistakes that caused my business to take a nose dive and the debts to pile up. Mistakes that took time, energy, and deliberate intention to be able to change and rectify. Some I am still in the process of rectifying. And I still continue to make mistakes in my work, but as a result am getting better at what I do. The only thing that changed is how I perceive them, and what I do when I make them.

As with anything, the way we deal with our mistakes in building a business can give us a clue at how we are when it comes to the rest of life. Too many people hold back from creating the business they want, because the fear of making mistakes looms over them.

                                         “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
                                                                             
                                                                          ― Albert Einstein

Here is how I deal with mistakes I make, and what I do to make sure I minimise the risk of them in the future.

1) Let go and forgive yourself for mistakes from the past. The world may seem unforgiving, but I have found that the more I forgive myself for my mistakes, the more the world does, and the more I am able to rectify them. Life is a mirror after all. As long as we continue to beat ourselves up for making mistakes, and take on the criticisms from others, the more we are likely to be paralysed in our process. The sooner we can forgive ourselves for the mistakes, the sooner we are able to move forward. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, it can seem like we end up making the same mistakes over and over. If you make the same mistake a thousand times, be willing to forgive yourself a thousand times, even if the world at large doesn't appear to. You can always correct your mistakes, but it's a lot harder if you are still punishing yourself for them. If you are considering # 2, and getting something new from each mistake, then it does not lack value. 

                                                                 “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
                                                          
                                                          ― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism


2) What was the lesson that you learned? Behind every mistake there is a valuable insight wanting to be heard. Denying that we have made a mistake, or placing blame upon someone else, will prevent us from hearing the insight. We give our power away. Instead we can reclaim that power by admitting we made a mistake. Sometimes, with humility, we need to admit our mistake to others, so that they can have the opportunity to forgive, and we can have the opportunity to allow someone to forgive us. And eventually you will even be able to find a way to be grateful for that mistake. Nothing has meaning except the meaning you give it, so why not be grateful for it? Grateful for the lessons it provided, the wisdom embodied. We can find gratitude for even the gravest of errors if we seek out the lesson.

                           “I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards.”
                   
                                                                         ― Rudyard Kipling


3) Ask better questions before taking your next step. As a result of the mistake you made, you will have further clarity about the most effective questions you can ask moving forward. Asking better questions is what allows us to be open to new answers and new possibilities, and to do our best to succeed in the future. If we keep asking the same question - eg) what is wrong with me? - we are inclined to keep getting similar results. When we ask ourselves, "What can I do differently next time?" we open up to a whole new experience of life. We need to keep fine tuning our question asking process so that we can get greater clarity about what we need to do next. Making mistakes often allow us the opportunity to fine tune those questions, so we need to be ok with making mistakes.

4) Eliminate the fear of making mistakes. The more we fear making mistakes, the more that we are likely to create situations where making a mistake is costly to us in some way. Alternatively you may be paralysed, unable to take the next step forward, out of that fear, and never claim the abundant life that is waiting for you. Recognising that making mistakes is part of the journey, is key to our enjoyment of it. We dance with our fear of making mistakes, by being kinder to ourselves when we do, and by focusing repeatedly on the outcome we want, instead of the outcome we don't want. Don't stuff your fears down and pretend that they don't exist. List off the mistakes you fear making. And from that, get clear on your intention of what you want to do. Some folks fear that the work they do will inadvertently harm someone. Minimise the chances of that happening by getting clear on the fact that your intention is to truly help, and help those you know you can help. Others fear that they will lose money when making mistakes. Instead invest your energy in an intention to create money doing what you love and asking questions like: "What would it take for me to make money serving people in the highest possible way." And of course, be ok with loss, because that happens along the way too. You leave this earth with nothing but your soul.

5) Tune in to your intuition as you make choices moving forward. Asking better questions, and a healthy visualisation process, work best when we practice deep listening and allow ourselves to hear and trust the voice of our intuition. I used to distrust my intuition immensely, because I made mistakes so often, and put a greater weight on what others were telling me in every situation. Sometimes the voices of others are our guiding light, but sometimes they are the voice of our own fears and we need to be able to discern. I was mistaken to mistrust my intuition, it was my fears that I should not have trusted. Over time I have learned to tune in to my intuition, and trust it more, and through the process of listening to it, have made far better life choices even in the most challenging of moments. That trust was built by creating the intention to trust my intuition, and by the daily practice of meditation in order to calm my mind. It is from a calm mind that I am better able to make the choices that serve the work I am doing. A mind riddled with worry only diminishes the voice of the intuition. Let go of the need to be right, and listen to your intuitive guidance, trust it and it will take you far. There are times when I still do not necessarily hear intuition, but again, it is a mistake I am willing to forgive myself for, so that I continue to hear it in most life situations.

If you have a human aspect like I do, you will be likely to make mistakes as you step more in to the grandest version of yourself. But no success was ever achieved without some mistakes along the way.

The cost of mistakes we make while listening to and following our calling are never as great as the regret we feel when we have not even taken a step in that direction.

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment,   defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”
     
                                                                     ― Paulo Coelho, Brida


What is a mistake that you have made recently? What lesson did you learn from that mistake? Your experiences are a gift to others. If you feel inclined to practice a little humility and share your lessons with others in the comment box below, I know that it will help others greatly.

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