How to Increase Your Mistake Tolerance
Updated: Sep 13, 2019
Summarized by Lea Bishop, WPN President.
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
The author contents that life is trial and error, and that we cannot make progress without making mistakes. Modern society emphasizes instant gratification and playing it safe rather than the belief that mistakes are growth opportunities that build resilience.Organizations in particular suffer from mistake intolernace because of the misconception that it is better to look perfect rather than fail for taking risks and trying new ways of doing things. There is also a belief called the 'God Complex' which implies that we think we know all the answers and so we fail to solve problems because we are afraid to 'think outside the box'.
Mr. Razzetti proposes these steps to take to increase your mistake tolerance:
1. Embrace a Trial and Error Approach - Explore new ideas. Learn from mistakes and try again. Corrective feedback helps to understand why a mistake was made and the reasoning behind it.
2. Own Your Mistakes - Don't hide your mistakes. Perfectionism can hinder personal growth.
3. Reframe Your Mistakes - Let them become lessons rather than negative experiences.
4. Label the Mistake, Not Yourself - Realize that an error or mistake was made, but that you are not the problem. Don't let it hurt your self-worth.
5. Risk Screwing Up - Put yourself out there and follow a 'trial and error' approach more often.
Be courageous and forget about being perfect. As Bruce Lee siad "Don't fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime."
To learn how you, too, can become more mistake tolerant, please follow this link:
https://liberationist.org/how-to-increase-your-mistake-tolerance/