Make an effort to embrace your mistakes as opportunities to learn.
Mistakes are a sign that we are putting ourselves out there and challenging ourselves; often, they are an important part of learning something new. Successful people are good at picking themselves up when they falter. When we celebrate our mistakes (rather than ruminating about them, or concealing them), we avoid the fear of failure that can inhibit our growth and happiness.
Take action: This week, embrace as many mistakes as you can. And don’t forget to celebrate your children’s mistakes—learning how to recover from an embarrassing moment or minor failure is an important life skill.
Join the discussion: What did you learn from that blunder? How will you do things differently next time? Share in the comments below.
As I learned when attending the Next Library conference in Aarhus, Denmark a few years ago, they believe the best thing to do if you make a mistake is to raise your arms and say loudly – “Oops I made a mistake!” – and they are proud of it! Just this week I made a mistake at work and sent an email apologizing for it. I was so happy to receive the following response from a colleague in the Netherlands reminding me to celebrate mistakes: “In line with the Aarhus policy on mistakes I applauded for you ;-)”
I love that!! No wonder those Danes are so happy.
Hi Christine, I recently gave a talk at Ignite Seattle about the importance of teaching our kids to fail with resilience. While giving my presentation I was embracing my fear of public speaking and even though it didn’t go exactly as I had hoped, it was worth it. There were moments to celebrate and valuable nuggets to learn. You can watch my talk here: https://www.thriveart.com/blog/how-i-faced-my-fear-of-failure/