Masterful Mindsets – Mistakes Happen!
Question:
What are your deep-seated beliefs about failure? Do you let a fear of failure keep you from going for what you really want in life? How would your life be different if you didn’t worry about making mistakes and instead, accepted your failures as much as your successes? With love and kindness for yourself.
Action Challenge:
I have to admit, this week’s quote speaks deeply to me. It has been a hard lesson for me to learn. You see, I grew up with a well meaning father what told me all my life, “You can’t afford to make mistakes.” Needless to say, it entrenched a huge fear of failure in me that at times would literally paralyze me from taking action – questioning my every move and staying in limbo for fear that the decisions or actions I might take, just might be a mistake! Can you relate? Maybe you were programmed with a similar message when you were growing up that has kept you from taking huge leaps in your life.
But over the years, I’ve come to realize how unrealistic it is to think I’d never make a mistake or to think that it would keep me from success. Quite the contrary actually. Without taking risks and learning from your experiences – both your successes and your failures – you may never know your true potential. What I think my dad should have actually told me was, “You can’t afford NOT to make some mistakes.” Because that’s how we learn, how we grow and eventually… how we turn failures into success.
Think about the last time you made a mistake or failed at something. What was the internal message you sent to yourself and how did that effect your next steps? Rewrite that message to yourself. It’s time to change your mindset about failure being a bad thing and realize that making a mistake is just a part of the journey – don’t let it be a roadblock that keeps you from reaching success. Once you have rewritten that old limiting belief into an empowering new truth, write it on several index cards and put them in prominent places where you’ll see them regularly. Then every time that risk of making a mistake or fear of failure starts to creep up and paralyze you – read the new message to yourself, as many times as it takes, to be empowered and take a leap of faith! Don’t worry, it’s okay if you make a mistake. 😉 After all, mistakes happen! The biggest mistake you can make is to let your fear of failure keep you from ever taking action at all.
***I want to hear from you… share your thoughts about this week’s topic below.