Do you realise the miracle of the mistake?
If you have attended one of my workshops and been on the receiving end of feedback, you will know that I have developed a way of highlighting mistakes in the classroom without offending anyone. In fact, what happens is quite the opposite — most people actually become more willing to try new things and risk making mistakes because they know it will create a valuable opportunity to learn. Please don’t try this at home, yet ;) Wait until you have mastered the art of giving feedback that is, as it’s taken me many years of facilitation to master the art of giving feedback. I’d recommend that you start by practising on yourself first and take Key Steps to use your inner mentor to give yourself constructive feedback and…
‘be the difference that makes the difference.’
How do you reframe mistakes as miracles?
- Realise that there’s no such things as failure, only feedback. When I analysed why my feedback strategy works so well for me, I realised that it’s because I really believe that there is no such thing as failure… there is only feedback and lessons… and I really mean it when I say to people that we are going to “Harness the miracle of the mistake”. I constantly reinforce the message that your very best teacher is not me but actually your last mistake. Once you can deeply internalise the fact that the only real mistake you can make in life is not learning from your mistakes, you will naturally become more able to…
- Admit your mistakes and learn from them using your inner mentor. Strong people make as many mistakes as ‘weak’ people. The difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them and learn from them. They are not afraid to be vulnerable — or maybe they were but they did it anyway and realised that this is how they actually became strong. For example, they can turn having a car accident into realising that they need to drive more carefully or be more alert or ensure they are not on their cell phone while driving. If they mess-up on a big project, they will apologise, diagnose where they went wrong and begin again more intelligently — this is the work of the inner mentor. They realise that if they allow their inner critic, rather than their inner mentor, to speak, they might become demotivated, lose confidence in themselves and make even more mistakes. So, to be strong and successful, admit your mistakes, get the lesson, recognise that you cannot change the past but you can begin again more intelligently. Don’t beat yourself up, just move forward with your lesson and take Key Steps to…
‘be the difference that makes the difference.’
Namaste,
Sharon
