Ancient sages believed that making mistakes was a blessing. They taught: The great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.
It’s natural to make mistakes when you undertake something unfamiliar, such as trying a different sale’s technique or a new marketing approach.
What you want to avoid, however, is giving your mistakes the power to disrupt your life and career. If you repeatedly replay them in your head and beat yourself up, they will keep you down and doubting.
Call it what you will — a mistake, blunder, slip-up, oversight, error in judgment or faux pas — when you make one, ask yourself three questions: What can I learn from this? How did I benefit from it? What’s the best way to move forward from this point?
Maybe you’ll have a chance to correct the mistake; maybe you won’t. Perhaps you can try again in a different way. Regardless, you are wiser than you were before the experience and can consider yourself “blessed” because you are improving.
So, give it a shot, even at the risk of messing up. It’s by pushing yourself too far that you find out how far you really can go.
