Mistakes

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
George Bernard Shaw

Are you afraid of making mistakes? We are often so afraid of making mistakes that they don't make a decision about what to do. The are afraid that making the wrong decision will deprive us of what we want (whatever the right decision is supposed to bring us) . We have been taught to be careful that we don't make the wrong decision ("What if I make this choice and that happens?"). We feel we need to be perfect, and that we need to control the outcome of events ("What if it doesn't work out the way I plan?"). We feel that to make a mistake is an embarrassing failure. This petrifies us when we think about making a change or attempting a challenge.

We forget that not only are we, as humans, supposed to make mistakes, but that they are actually good for us. They teach us what doesn't work, and that helps us narrow down our list of things to try that might work. Thomas Edison made 10,000 "mistakes" while he was creating the light bulb. He commented "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." He was successful because he wasn't afraid of making mistakes.

Our lives are really like a big experiment where we are finding out what works and what doesn't. The most important thing of all is to get out there and take action. Yes, you may make a mistake, in fact you probably will. But that's okay as long as you learn what you can from it. Then you make any necessary adjustments in your plan, and keep going. There's nothing worse than sitting there, paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes, and letting life pass you by. They say that on your deathbed you will be regretting the things you didn't do, not the things you did (even if they proved to be mistakes).

For ideas about how to be successful, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com.