Wednesday, October 30, 1996

Mistakes

Do not look where you fell,
but where you slipped.
            -- African proverb

If you’re taking action, you’ll make mistakes. When you make a mistake, that’s great! You just learned something.

Admit your mistakes and examine them carefully. Take responsibility for them, and learn from them. Mistakes are superb teachers. Knowing what doesn’t work, can be a tremendous help in determining what will work.

Tom Watson, the founder of IBM, well understood the value of mistakes. Once, one of his employees made a huge mistake that cost the company millions of dollars. The employee, upon being called into Watson’s office, said “I suppose you want my resignation.” “Are you kidding,” replied Watson. “I just spent ten million dollars educating you."

Successful, effective people learn from everything that happens, including mistakes. When you make a mistake, the best policy is to pick up the pieces and look carefully at what happened. Don’t tear yourself up over it. Just examine it and learn from it. Then apply your new knowledge and try again.

— Ralph Marston

Start every day as a winner       The stairway to your goal