I am no Marie Kondo, but I am good at packing. I had never forgotten to pack any essential items until my recent snow trip, my first one this season. And I forgot my ski jacket. I may have forgotten plenty of small things in the past, but nothing like this had happened to me before. I am very organized. I plan my workload and outline my tasks for the day and the week. I like having a place for everything and purge clutter regularly. I don’t like to put things off for later, and I tend to be prepared for things that come my way. But there I was, ready to take on the snow-covered trails at Royal Gorge, when I realized that I forgot my ski jacket at home. There are probably worse things than arriving at a ski resort and finding out you are missing something you need for the day, but I felt totally embarrassed and foolish. “How could I have forgotten my jacket? This never happens to me.” My story has a happy ending. Luckily, my husband had two jackets in the car. I had to quickly let go of the “what if” negative emotions to fully enjoy the beautiful day in the snowy outdoors. I even had fun sporting the big and baggy look. It reminded me of my childhood; borrowed clothes and hand-me-downs were the norm for special occasions. We weren’t poor, but my parents believed that spending money on clothes worn only once was wasteful. So, nothing really fit properly. And yet, we still had the time of our life. How we loved those big family celebrations even though our outfits left something to be desired.
In our fast-paced life marked by the pursuit of money and material affirmation of our success, we may overlook the power of simplicity and imperfection. Both make for a richer spiritual existence detached from appearances and achievement vanity. That being said, accepting our fallibility and imperfections doesn’t absolve us from the responsibility to pursue meaningful goals, make thoughtful plans, and do our best. It simply allows us room to breathe and the freedom to explore, mess up, learn, and grow. It affords us the opportunity to choose our response to mistakes and failures in order to expand our path when we recover from them. We are conditioned to seek perfection – the perfect body, the perfect look, the perfect career path, etc. We’ve allowed the illusion of perfection to define our choices, actions, and interactions. But when we accept a more realistic construct that nothing can ever be perfect, we can begin to realize the untapped potential of imperfection. All too often opportunities are camouflaged by a thicket of setbacks, difficulties, mistakes, and failures. Resilient people understand that making mistakes is par for the course when living a full life. Mistakes are the tuition we pay for success. Every misstep gives us feedback to redirect and move forward carving a path beyond the obstacles on our yellow brick road.
Mistakes are an opportunity to find our depth and redefine what’s possible not only in terms of what we need but also in discovering what we can do without. Every worthwhile endeavor requires a lot of planning and effort. You do not climb a mountain without being fit, without being prepared, or without any stumbles. Despite being a hiking nutcase with a lot of experience and many miles under my belt, I always prepare like a pro, yet expect the unexpected. This is no different from what we all experience as career-oriented people. We set goals to reach both short- and long-term achievements in order to build a satisfying and successful career. But as much as we want it, and as hard as we push ourselves, we make mistakes along the way. Don’t fear making them. Know that mistakes will push you toward great possibilities. Mistakes boost understanding of what truly matters. They will expand your thinking, capacity, and abilities. Mistakes create excitement by infusing new possibilities into the mundane. Use the rush of Adrenalin to your advantage, to do things differently and perform at your best. Make mistakes because that’s where you will find growth, joy, and success. Your collection of mistakes forms your invaluable experience and unique life story.
The truth is that when we have all the answers, we don’t get to enjoy the thrill of creatively exploring the unknown. One of the benefits of making mistakes is a gain in resourcefulness as we problem-solve, course-correct, and get unstuck. Often the most successful people are those who have tried the most times, used many different approaches and strategies, and taken the greatest risks. The relentless drive to keep trying entails the ability to embrace the missteps and the mess-ups as the guideposts on the journey to fulfill our potential. Life is not the Olympics. You don’t get disqualified for false starts. Don’t get discouraged when you make a mistake. There’s still a lot of success and joy to be had. Like the game of chutes and ladders, you are likely to climb up and slide down many times, but that’s what makes the game so exciting. We waste a lot of mental energy trying to figure out how to avoid making mistakes instead of going in trusting that mistakes will turn into lessons, and the knowledge we acquire along the way will make us stronger and better.
A mistake is an opportunity to figure out a way around it to plow ahead in a new and creative way. So, when you mess up, be resourceful. Here’s how:
Reassess. Perform a reality check. Take a step back and look at the story you are telling yourself, what you believe to be true (your own opinion) and what may be alternative scripts. Synthesize everything you know about the mistake into a complete picture of what happened and why.
Reframe. Get creative and open your mind to all possibilities. Looking at a situation from different perspectives may lead to new ideas how to proactively recover and move on. Consider all of the potential scenarios and outcomes.
Re-engage. Make a choice to stay positive. An optimistic outlook is an incredibly powerful way to neutralize self-defeating thoughts. Make every effort to fix your mistake. Be willing to see it through and change the outcome.
Ultimately, it is the journey, not the destination, that really matters. In every mistake there’s a potential for growth, a new road opening up for you.
Comentários