Your guide to a healthier perspective of life
Learn to forgive yourself. If you mess up, that’s OK. If you keep making the same mistakes, that’s not OK. You need to learn from your mistakes.
Forgive yourself when you mess up because we are all human and we all matter. But if you keep messing up and doing the same thing over and over again, eventually it’s not just a once off. That is a habit that you have formed and you need to get rid of it. Always work to improve yourself.
We all make mistakes – always have and always will. Think back to a time when you were young and impressionable, when you were inexperienced at something…when you wade a mistake, did your teacher/mentor/parent berate you for making a mistake? If they did (and you consistently received this negative feedback), you may still carry some of that baggage with you today. You might be too scared to take any chances at all, for fear of “messing up.” But if you never try anything new because you might make a mistake, you’ll severely limit your growth. You are capable of so much, but you will often have to try and fail many things before building off of those experiences.
If you’re in a position of “power,” whether that’s being an employer, boss, manager, parent, mentor, role model, teacher, coach, etc., make sure you let those around you know that it’s ok to make mistakes! They shouldn’t be happy that they made a mistake and should always try to learn and grow from their mistakes, but despite their best intentions, sometimes they still will slip up. (We all do.)
Make sure you’re creating an environment that knows people have permission to make mistakes, but the obligation to learn from them.
At the end of the day, you might have some regrets about what you did or didn’t do or what you said or didn’t say, but you have to let it go.
You can’t change that anymore.
The best thing you can do is to move on. If you feel bad about something, apologize or do something to make it right – don’t dwell on things you can’t change.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
If you want to achieve great things, the first thing you must do is believe…believe that you can do it! Because if you don’t really think it’s possible, you’ll subconsciously look for reasons why you can’t do it instead of finding ways to do it. You might have to think outside the box to get it. You might have to follow a path someone else has already cleared. But almost assuredly, if it’s a challenging goal, you’re likely to at least stumble along the way. This is why believing that you can do it AND believing that you’re strong enough to overcome any adversity that comes your way is so important. When you inevitability make a mistake, you’ll realize it’s not permanent, and you’ll find a way to move on and grow from it.
Believe in yourself. Make a plan. Take action. Re-evaluate as necessary. Persist through difficulty. And continue to make progress towards your goal(s) every day.
We all make mistakes. Our goal should be to quickly realize when we are making the mistake of heading down the wrong path and course correct without getting too far. Try new things, but be cognizant of where they’re heading. Is this the right move for me right now? Just because it may not be the right time doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path forever for you (or for anyone else).