Wednesday Wisdom: Mistakes

This week’s Wednesday Wisdom comes from Coach John Wooden mixed with some of my own thoughts on Mistakes.

Coach Wooden states: A MISTAKE IS VALUABLE IF YOU RECOGNIZE IT, ADMIT IT, LEARN FROM IT AND FORGET IT.

1. Recognize It:
   Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
2. Admit it:
   You may make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you start blaming someone else.
3. Learn from it:
   It’s always about focusing, not on the mistakes, but on the lessons learned from them. Never require repeated criticism for the same mistake.
4. Forget it:
   Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.
   Don’t make a second mistake because you’re thinking about the first.

If I could humbly add a #5 to the list above from Coach Wooden it would be:

5. Apologize for it:
         If your mistake causes someone else harm, be sure you apologize.

In closing: Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it. Work through the 5 steps listed above and remember that the team that makes the most mistakes usually wins. Doers make mistakes – mistakes of commission, not of omission or carelessness. Don’t be afraid to act. If we are afraid to do something out of fear of making a mistake, we will never do anything. This is the worst mistake of all.

Use mistakes to teach you more about who you are. That is their purpose. Embrace mistakes. Choose courage over comfort!