The Right Mistakes

If there is one thing we try to avoid at all costs its failure.  Messing up and looking bad is the worst combination in the world, second only to being loud and wrong.  That’s unfortunate, because failing is one of life’s most potent gifts. Remember, when we succeed, we tend to celebrate and when we fail, we get to ruminate.  Nothing gets the brain brooding, searching and cogitating like looming failure. Impending disaster is a heat-seeking missile, lighting up our brain like a pinball machine and firing up those synapses in search of the right answer. You’ve already heard (but it bears repeating) about some of the many inventions and discoveries throughout history, born of a mistake that changed the prevailing paradigm.  Everything from Columbus getting colossally lost (what is it about men and directions?!), to the guy who accidentally invented Post-its when he was looking to create a permanent adhesive. We got Penicillin from mold, Botox from botulism, and Harry Warner (a Warner Brother) was sure glad he was wrong when he said, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk!” But how does this apply to us, our businesses, our jobs, our lives?  It’s like the Taoist symbol for Yin and Yang, the circle with the curved line down the middle, black on one side and white on the other.  Inside the black is a white dot; inside the white is a black dot.  Meaning everything holds within it the seed of its opposite.   Our greatest mistakes carry the potential for our greatest triumphs.  It’s not just our wins that encourage us and help us grow.  Everything serves, even our screw ups. What a refreshing way to embrace life!  Imagine how much more encouraging and empowering we can be to our employees, our children and ourselves when we choose to ponder instead of punish when things go wrong.