Make more mistakes!

“Dear Mohammed, Thank you for encouraging us to make mistakes.” – Client.?

This was part of a touching voice message my client left me.

?Earlier in this project, while the team was working on something, another manager tried to intervene and correct them while they were making a mistake.

I politely stopped her and told her:

“Let them make this mistake. It’s OK, it’s part of the learning process. I want them to reflect and learn from this mistake.”

?We grow up being punished for making mistakes:

• As children we are punished by our parents for the mistakes we are making. (God bless them, I love them above everything).
• Society when we don’t conform to norms that we sometimes are not even aware exist.
• At school it’s all about not making mistakes, every mistake you make costs you grades.
• Friends and partners who have expectations and lines that we might cross unknowingly.
• Of course, at work, don’t you dare make a mistake or else you will lose that promotion, pay raise or even your job.

All this makes us feel we are navigating blindly through a minefield, blind folding ourselves.

We move slower and never gain real momentum.

We conform to norms that sometimes make no sense.

We are overly cautious not to offend anyone.

Our creativity is stifled and our creative thinking process grinds to a halt.

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It’s like driving a car with the handbrake pulled up,

-? ? ? ? you will never get to your destination.

-? ? ? ? it’s going to be a miserable journey.

-? ? ? ? you will damage the car in the process.

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Strange enough, it is just in our heads.??

1. A lot of things sound wrong in our head, which catastrophizes the consequences and exaggerates our fears.
2. It prevents us from moving forward, while what we need to do is to embark on that journey and take that first step.
3. Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake, but not as big as we thought it would be.

?Let’s take these blindfolds off our eyes and look around us for a while.

We mistake mistakes with failures, so let me give you a reality check:

-? ? ? ? Mistakes will happen

-? ? ? ? Failures will happen

-? ? ? ? How we deal with mistakes and failures makes a big difference

Next time you think you are about to do a mistake, (unless it is illegal or harmful) I want you to do the following:

1. Do the mistake (start with small ones first)
2. Own the mistake. So you messed up, so what?
3. Reflect on it and see if it is as bad as you think it is.
4. Ask yourself, what you learned from it.
5. Ask yourself, what you would do differently the next time!

Do enough mistakes and learn from them, it will make you unstoppable.

We are human beings. We make mistakes. It’s in our nature. Mistakes give us character, strengthen our understanding and our standing.

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Making mistakes does not make you a failure.

Making mistakes makes you more human!