Mistakes: Oops or Opportunities

byHaroldStone

386 followers

Updated 10 years ago

I saw an article recently by a man for which I have great respect. His name is Rick Warren. His article was about making mistakes on a regular basis. He tells his staff that it is ok to make mistakes, as long as they are not repeating the same one over and over.

I got to thinking about that. Is my mistake an oops or an opportunity? I guess it depends on your attitude, your thoughts, and how you are looking at life.

Does the mistake paralyze you or does it motivate you to try something else? Do you think that you will never get it right?

Thomas Edison took 1000 attempts to create the light bulb. When asked, "How did it feel to fail 1000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1000 times. The light bulb was created in 1000 steps."

Many great people in history failed more than once. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Socarates, Henry Ford and many, many more failed more than once. A Hall of Fame baseball player usually only gets a hit, one out of every three at bats. That could be discouraging, but they get up to bat again and keep going.

Rick Warren encourages his staff to try things they have never done, think of things they had never thought of, and then go for it. Do they always succeed? NO, but next week is a new week. Next week, I can try something I have never done. I take a step of faith and do it.

What if I fail? Get up, see the opportunity, and go again. What if Thomas Edison had given up at try 100, 300, 500 or 900? I guess we would be using our computers in the dark! (That was a joke! LOL)

He didn't give up, others didn't give up, and if we want to accomplish our dreams, we should not give up. If we make a mistake, it is not an oops, but rather an opportunity.

It is one thing that we know won't work at this time. Maybe another time, but not today.

Don't let your mistakes be just an oops, but let them become opportunities!

Harold