Many people believe that mistakes reveal their weaknesses.
Big mistakes are Often professional sportspeople do not like admitting, even only big lessons if to themselves. that thev have anyweaknesses. But if we you make them
yourself. choose to ignore them, what happens? They resurface at the
most trying of times and can often bring us down. Just one mistake, for many, is sufficient excuse to throw in the towel.
A s t e pin the How much better and more productive to learn from and wrong direction is even mentallycorrect our mistakes. If you have time to think better than staying
on the spot all about throwing in the towel, you also have the time to think your life. Once about success. Which do you think is more worth making the
you're moving focus of your life? forward you can
correct vour
course as you go. ~ - Pete writes: One particular sauash player I aareed t o coach Your automatic
invited me to watch him play. On the day in question I arrived late, guidance system
cannot guide you so h e did not know when I was there. Very quickly I noticed that when you're while his good shots went seemingly unnoticed, he 'rewarded' standing still.
b a d shots with angry verbal abuse and continuous cursing. I asked him about this after his game. 'Does getting angry with yourself make you play any better?' I asked. The answer he gave is probably obvious. 'Well,' I said, 'instead of cursing yourself after each bad shot, stop for a moment and remember yourself hitting the ball correctly.' He tried this technique repeatedly, and before long i t started t o work and h e became a far superior player. He
STEP 7
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
The illiterate of the next decade will not be individuals who cannot read and write, but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
Everyone is the architect of their own learning.
said to me later: 'This is so easy and feels so good that i t almost seems as though I am cheating.'
I also worked with a top goalkeeper who, like the squash player, would give himself a hard time when he failed t o save a goal. He would go over and over the mistake i n his head, which naturally made him feel even worse. I suggested a very easy but radically effective technique: After having made a mistake, instead of replaying the error repeatedly in his head, I t o l d him t o imagine having saved the goal. By replacing t h e memory of failure with success over and over, his brain would soon know which behav- iour he wished to adopt.
If after each mistake or lapse as you break this habit you can go over the situation and remember yourself not making the mistake or lapse, the chances are that, when faced with a similar set of circumstances, you won't make the same mis- take again. Your unconscious will start to follow the new roadmap of what you consciously know you want to do.
Remember earlier when we talked about the pilot light? The flame flares brightly when we feel motivated to do some- thing, and is dim when we lack motivation. Many people who decide to break a habit and who are motivated spend time thinking about life being different. They have developed a belief that they can change. Any of us can fall by the way- side by slipping back into old habits.
Anyone who has experienced success knows how to master failure. Failing is part of succeeding and mistakes are mishaps, not crises. Acknowledge them, correct them, and then let them go. Do not let them govern or sabotage your new life. Successful people only ever see things working out. To them, a mistake is an opportunity.
You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next forward surge. Accept this as part of the process and never become downhearted.
Take heart, truth and happiness will get you in the end. You can? lose in this game. Have fun. It goes on too long to be taken seriously all the time.
If there were no difficulties, there would be no triumphs.
Monty Roberts, otherwise known as t h e Horse Whisperer, did some work with businesses. He would often b e able t o turn them from failing companies into highly successful institutions. When asked his secret, h e said the most important lesson was in teach- ing the staff who worked at these companies t o make mistakes. It was the only way they learned how not to repeat them, he said.
In fact, when you make a mistake, laugh, especially if you don't feel like it. Doing that alone releases seratonin, which is what is known as the 'feeling of wellbeing' chemical. You cannot hold on to depressing or self-defeating thoughts when the corners of your mouth are up-turned. Try it - it is
impossible. To keep your attitude to your progress - and
any slip-ups that occur along the way - in proportion,
smile.