What Mistakes Did you Make Today?
What if we were able to look at mistakes differently and actually welcome them?
What would be the benefit and how would we do that?
Here’s a challenge: Instead of asking people “How was your day?” what would happen if we instead asked “What mistakes did you make today?”
Mistakes have a bad rap. We often try to avoid them or feel embarrassed when they happen. But the truth is, NOT making mistakes is actually a mistake. Mistakes are human and unavoidable. So what if we were able to look at mistakes differently and actually welcome them? What would be the benefit and how would we do that?
According to Reshma Saujani (@reshmasaujani) the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code (@girlswhocode), Making mistakes can be a good way to test our own desire for perfectionism.
In an op-ed for USA Today, Saujani noted that during a workshop she challenged attendees (women specifically) to send a work email with a typo in it. On purpose.
Saujani suggested that this kind of purposeful mistake could help people breakthrough their own walls of perfectionism:
“Research confirms that perfectionists — completely stunted by anxiety and procrastination — are less successful in any given field. As psychologist Thomas Greenspan wisely pointed out, “waiting for the surgeon to be absolutely sure the correct decision is being made could allow me to bleed to death.”
And studies indicate that perfectionism is a stronger indicator of procrastination and anxiety for women than it is for men.
When failure isn’t an option, neither is taking risks, and that right there is how perfection strangles bravery. These are the consequences of perfectionism. But those aren’t the only consequences.”
For our Virtual Feast in early July the discussion topic was “Mistakes! Why we make them & what we learn.” We feasted on a ton of connectivities and polls and discovered a lot about ourselves and each other when it comes to mistakes.
Overall, Feasters connected over the fact that we are harder on ourselves versus other people for mistakes. Here are a few stats from the polls:
75% of Feasters said that they could cultivate more opportunities for a another chance in their life after a mistake if they stopped focusing on what they can’t control or change.
89% of Feasters think that people who make more mistakes have a tendency to take more risks.
73% of Feasters judge themselves (and dwell on it at 63%) after they make a mistake.
So, what are the takeaways? Have some compassion for yourself, and remember that the best way to learn is through practice, and most of the time we have to purposely practice…and sometimes that is scary and means you might have to try something different or take a risk.
So, what mistakes did you make today?