Make Mistakes Big and Small

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Make Mistakes, Big and Small
… and You Might Learn Something!
1 • © 2009 BitLearn Media LLC
Make Mistakes, Big and Small www.learngrowlive.net
• We are all afraid of making mistakes.
• Humiliation, embarrassment, censure and lots of other
nasty things can come from simple or significant mistakes.
• We would all love to be perfect and do it all right.
• However, life simply doesn’t work that way (if it does for
you, please share your secret!).
• One person’s right can be another person’s wrong and the
’ h b h ’ d h
absolute pursuit of perfection can stress the body and
mind to its limits.
Make Mistakes, Big and Small www.learngrowlive.net
• So, should we all run out and purposefully screw
g p
something up?
• No, although, it might sound like fun once in a
while What we can try to do is not be fearful of
while. What we can try to do is not be fearful of
making mistakes.
• W
We can take calculated risks and suppress our
k l l d ik d
natural ability to be afraid to make mistakes.
Take Calculated Risks and Don’t Be Afraid www.learngrowlive.net
• Mistakes are not only the result of an impulse or simply not thinking
about something, they are also often the byproduct of some serious
analytic thinking about the right course of action.
• What’s the difference?
– An impulse might spur you to grabbing that hot cup of coffee in the
morning without recognizing it could be producing the heat of a small sun.
– Serious analytical thinking, however, might be your decision to invest in a
new venture where you spent days or weeks going over the investment
strategy.
– Both of these resulted in a “mistake” – the coffee and the investment
burned you, in different ways.
• While restraining your impulses to prevent mistakes is a great idea,
restraining your analytical thinking and decision making processes
because you are afraid to get it wrong is simply preventing you from
ever having a chance
ever having a chance.
• Give yourself chance, possibility and simply tempt the gods by thinking
(as little or as much as it takes) about a potential course of action and
doing it without overdoing the fear of getting it wrong
doing it without overdoing the fear of getting it wrong.
• Fear can prevent you from ever moving forward and it can stick you in
something called “analysis paralysis”.
• Analysis paralysis keeps you thinking about the consequences of a
course of action and makes you simply lose sight of the end result.
• Have you ever met someone and simply couldn’t
y y
understand why they had become so successful?
• Oftentimes, their success is based upon taking
risks; hopefully calculated ones
risks; hopefully calculated ones.
• More so, they likely learned from their mistakes.
If
If anything, mistakes will teach you something.
hi i k ill h hi
Mistakes are a Learning Opportunity www.learngrowlive.net
• Learning is good for you.
• Adding to your knowledgebase (or more simply what’s in your
brain that you can use) is a great way to keep your brain
brain that you can use) is a great way to keep your brain
working for the long haul.
• Making mistakes is simply one more way that you can learn
and it’s often “experience learning”.
d it’ ft “ i l i ”
• Experience learning is about doing something that then gets
branded into your mind.
• Experience learning doesn’t only take the form of picking up a
new skill, it can also produce the “how not to do it” effect.
• For example, ever burn a batch of cookies or slide across
ice during the dead of winter in your new sneakers?
• What did or could those experiences teach you?
• They might have taught you that the temperature gauge
on your oven is off, that you should have read the recipe,
i ff th t h ld h d th i
or that sneakers don’t provide much traction on ice.
• There
There are many things you could or did learn from one of
are many things you could or did learn from one of
these experiences.
• When you think about the good, bad and ugly of your
mistake – the good is always your take‐away – what you
learned from the screw up. p
• Mistakes happen both personally and professionally.
• You might cc your co‐worker on an e‐mail they didn’t need
g y y
to see or you might buy your fiancé a Taschen Art book a
modern Swedish design for Valentine ’s Day (been there,
)
done that).
• You either did or will learn and grow personally and
professional from these mistakes.
Make Mistakes, Big and Small… www.learngrowlive.net
Live your life, make a mistake or mistakes, don’t
be afraid to you will learn from them and be
be afraid to, you will learn from them and be
stronger for it.
Come check us out at www.learngrowlive.net ‐ a resource for learning a bit every day,
growing your personal and professional knowledgebase and living a full life
growing your personal and professional knowledgebase and living a full life.
Learn Grow Live delivers tools, tips, ideas and information, designed to help you add to
your personal and professional knowledgebase that will allow you to achieve a more
efficient, productive and fulfilled personal and professional life.

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