Do you want to be successful? If your answer is “yes” then the real question comes: How badly do you want to be successful? The truth is that behind every success is a loooong road of mistakes, errors, wrongdoing and disappointment. In this post I will touch on how positive error culture can support you on your way of being successful.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas A. Edison
How badly do you want to be successful and how many times are you ready to get up again? Get up again and start everything over. Over and over and over again.
If you start to feel sick only by imagining your failures, it is a good sign that this is not for you. Or that you are not ready to go the way of failures for this particular thing or idea.
But maybe you read this and think: “of course I know that I will make mistakes and of course there will be disappointment! I am working on something that has never been done before!“ If you are here for a shortcut or a new idea, scroll down.
The Blame Game
Actually we should all be experts in dealing with mistakes. We do those every day! Unfortunately this topic is so sensitive that instead of self-confidence and mastery, we experience fear, blame and even self doubt.
There was a time when we all used to be masters of learning: childhood. Up until school for many children learning from mistakes with a positive connotation is as normal as breathing. With the beginning of school the situation changes. One quickly learns that there is a strong connection between a mistake and a punishment. In most cases if something happens the first thing that third parties want to know is: “Who did that?” Since we experience many small and sometimes big mistakes on a daily basis we start to run away from confrontation. It leads to the fact that mistakes are deliberately not seen and deliberately not spoken about.
Studies clearly show that the earlier a mistake is acknowledged, the lower the associated costs. This alone should be a reason to take a closer look at a positive error culture. The pathological fear of making mistakes hinders any innovation process. The assumption that mistakes and errors should not be allowed to happen in the first place really does not help anyone.
Error Culture
Wherever people come together and cooperate, a certain way of dealing with errors emerges. Therefore, a certain error culture: a way of looking at, evaluating and dealing with errors, establishes itself. If we discover that current error culture holds back our innovation then obviously we should change it.
“He who has made one mistake and does not correct it, commits a second.”
Confucius