Make mistakes count.

A while back, one of my brothers made an error at work, which cost a client a bunch of money.
They leveled accusations, pointed fingers, ranted and raved, filed a lawsuit and after a failed attempt to settle the dispute, ended up in court—a typical insurance company battle.
Oh well, stuff happens.

On the one hand, I take no issue with the process.
Insurance providers charge periodic premiums to a large number of policyholders and aggregate significant amounts of capital.
When a policyholder has a problem, the insurance company allocates a portion of those funds to resolving the issue—classic risk management.
From an economic standpoint, absent a major catastrophe through which too many policyholders claim simultaneous losses, the model works.

My challenge lies on the human side.
Why do we continue to cling to this barbaric need to vilify, castigate and put down those who make mistakes, cause them (and ourselves) to feel unworthy, dirty or bad?
“Did you hear that so-and-so did such-and-such? Oooohhh, big trouble in that house.”

Those who lead full lives will pay the price of a higher number of botches and bungles.
Even the most sheltered existence will include its fair share of lapses and slip-ups.
The inevitability of mistake-making ought to cause us to reconsider our perspective.

How about this?
Step One: Admit the error.
Step Two: Take responsibility for it.
Step Three: Ponder and reflect on the situation.
What might we have changed? What could we do differently?
Step Four: Make a determination to avoid the same slight next time.
Step Five: Move on. Go out and make an imprint on the world, armed with more maturity, more seasoning and an increased ability to contribute.

If we follow a mistake with personal responsibility and a renewed determination to shift the behavior when we face similar circumstances, we convert it into a lesson.
If we choose to dwell in the fault or mentally beat up on ourselves, we stay stuck in the problem instead of focused on solutions—a guaranteed ticket to bitterness, regret and rigidity.

Interesting how study after study tells us that we learn most during the ages of 3 and 7, and further, that our brain expands and grows exponentially during this period.
How coincidental that during these years we make the most mistakes.

Perhaps we should shift our viewpoint a tad, celebrate our humanity, embrace our imperfections, welcome the learning that derives from challenging defects or deficiencies and recognize the value of a good fall.
I don’t know about you, but I seem to mess up on a fairly regular basis, often in a pretty big way and I don’t see that varying much anytime soon.
I guess that means I’m on a high learning gradient.
How fun!

Besides, most of us find perfection very boring.

Success Quotes

One’s objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out and get it over with…your problem won’t improve with age.
-Warren Buffett

Worry Statistics to ponder—consider these carefully:
40% of things we worry about never happen.
30% are things from the past, that are done, that cannot be changed by all the worry in the world.
12% are needless worries about our health.
10% are petty, miscellaneous worries.
8% AND ONLY 8% are real, legitimate worries.

Key Points

Your dreams are important. Your dreams matter. You need a lot of energy to make them come true. Allowing ourselves to get bogged down in old news or false expectations will never help. Successful people learn to do first things first and avoid trivialities all together. It reminds me of the success quadrant (I suggest you draw this out). In the upper left we have Urgent and Important. In the lower left, we have Important yet not Urgent. In the upper right we have Urgent and Not important and in the lower right we have Not Urgent and Not Important.
When it comes to your success, follow these rules:
Forget the lower right quadrant all together. If it’s not Urgent and not Important, it gets none of your time.
Forget the upper right quadrant as well. Who cares if it’s Urgent when it’s not Important.
Responding to an expiring sale at the local mall may be urgent but if you don’t need the product, who cares.
Here’s the tricky part. Most people think that they should carefully watch the upper left, matters that are both Urgent and Important. NOT ENTIRELY TRUE. While of course emergencies will periodically come up that need immediate attention, if you stay focused on the lower left quadrant, Important matters, you will seldom have Urgencies come up to distract you. The key is to discipline yourself to not become distracted. Focus on the activities that drive your results. Surprisingly, you will quickly find that the rest take care of themselves.
I’ll see you on the ridge.

P.S. These “days away” from the Modest To Millions online launch are still dragging a tad, though I promise I am focused on the Important tasks only—don’t worry, we are almost there!!! Stay tuned…