Grow by making (and learning from) our mistakes
Failure- it’s good, not bad
Have you made some mistakes, well, good! You’re human. So am I! That’s wonderful, btw! We humans make mistakes and fail sometimes.
It is not the mistake or the failure that is the problem. The problem is not learning from them, or, sometimes, not being willing to make any mistakes, to be outside of your comfort zone. Then you don’t move- and certainly don’t change. Learning how to avoid failures from previous ones is one way to get ahead. Below you will find a list of 10 causes of failure, taken from Napoleon Hill and some ideas for 2020 – it’s a bit edited for a more modern way of thinking.
Causes of Failure (for leaders)
· Unorganized, “no time” for the important
“No genuine leader is ever “too busy” to do anything which may be required ...”
· Pride
“Truly great leaders are willing … to perform any sort of labor which they would ask another to perform.”
· Entitlement – this is a big issue in today’s western culture!
· Fear – we must face our fears and move on despite them (getting rid of the fear is unnecessary)
· Uncreative, lack of imagination
· Selfishness
“The leader who claims all the honor for the work of his followers is sure to be met by resentment.”
· Intemperance (Hill’s actual term) – the old-fashioned word is gluttony. At this time of year, it’s probably about eating and drinking, but it can be about too much of anything.
· Disloyalty
“The leader who is not loyal… to his associates, to those above… and below him, cannot long maintain his leadership.”
· Too authoritarian – flat hierarchies are “in” these days; time to consider your leadership style; is it at least situational?
· Too caught up in “title” and reputation (to focused on yourself; need I say more?)
“The man who makes too much over his title generally has little else to emphasize.”
Maybe you see yourself, or someone else you know, here. Try and avoid these and try and learn from your mistakes.
Here’s why it’s actually good to fail, if responded to correctly- by learning from mistakes with good follow-up questions
We learn best from mistakes. Really, I mean it- so here a few questions to consider when you make a mistake:
Why did it make sense that I/they/we did it that way? What was my/their/our part in the mistake?
These next few weeks are a good time to reflect, to think about the positives and negatives of 2019 and make a balance that is good: learn from the mistakes; continue the good; move onward and upward towards a GREAT 2020!
Next week I will catch you up on what I’ve been up to (it’s a whole lot) in my blog.
Best wishes for the rest of Advent,
Patricia Jehle, Jehle Coaching