Becoming a Professional Listener 

5.     Learn from your Mistakes

When we make mistakes, it can be hard to admit them.  Admitting mistakes feels like an attack on our self-worth. It is a defeat and a realization that we can’t always solve our own problems. As Bruce Lee once said, "Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."

You aren’t alone.  It is human nature to try and cover up mistakes. Not acknowledging a mistake and hoping that it goes away is no way to handle it. Research proves that fully acknowledging and embracing errors is the only way to avoid repeating them. By paying attention to mistakes, we invest more time and effort to correct them. The result is that you make the mistake work for you.

In line with our theme this week, how you think about mistakes is imperative to whether you can learn from them or whether they defeat you at every turn. People fall into one of two camps when it comes to mistakes. Those who have a fixed mind-set think, "Forget this; I'll never be good at it." Those who have a growth mind-set think, "What a wake-up call! Let's see what I did wrong so I won't do it again.” Which do you think is the better way to think about mistakes?

People with a growth mind-set land on their feet because they acknowledge their mistakes and use them to get better. Those with a fixed mind-set are bound to repeat their mistakes because they try their best to ignore them. Ignorance is anything but bliss.

Smart, successful people are by no means immune to making mistakes; they simply have the tools in place to learn from their errors. In other words, successful people recognize the roots of their mix-ups quickly and never make the same mistake twice. As Paulo Coelho said, "When you repeat a mistake it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision." Don’t decide to make mistakes, decide to learn and grow!

What’s your mindset – go here to find out!