Make Decisions In Alignment With Your Highest Values
“Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.”― George Bernard Shaw
Have you made mistakes you regret? Mistakes are unavoidable because they are sewn into the fabric of life and none are immune to them. You might fear making mistakes because you believe they are damaging. Sometimes they are, for example taking a wrong dose of medication, cheating on your spouse or illegal activities. But primarily we are talking about life’s mistakes related to: career, finances, business, health, etc. Mistakes are pivotal in your personal development and lead to massive personal growth. While mistakes are fundamental to our personal development, they can also erode our character and weaken our self-esteem. If you recollect back to your childhood, mistakes were associated with being reprimanded. You may carry this burden throughout adulthood hoping to make amends, not realising you’re trying to heal something that is not broken.
I use the term purposefully to draw your attention to living consciously, in contrast to automatically. The former invites you to make decisions that are congruent with your highest values and true character. The latter denotes someone unconscious to their beliefs and motives. They act with little conscious awareness until much later on. They are living their childhood wounds without making peace with them. Purposeful living means living intentionally with values that reinforce character. Therefore, if we are not making mistakes regularly, we are not abiding by your core values. Mistakes are a doorway for inner expansion. They are pivotal moments in our life’s experience. The period that follows mistakes is characterised by a change in values and beliefs to coincide with a new level of awareness. Knowing this, how do you feel about your past mistakes? Do you wish you could go back and change things or did you learn valuable lessons from the experience?
Mistakes Are Part Of Your Journey
“A mistake should be your teacher, not your attacker. A mistake is a lesson, not a loss. It is a temporary, necessary detour, not a dead end.” — Anonymous
I’ve had the good fortune of making countless mistakes throughout my life. I turned my back on a career in the creative field because I was no longer passionate about it. This coincided with less than optimal health choices, including over-consumption of alcohol and junk foods, conducive to the creative profession I was working in at the time. It took a health scare while abroad to evaluate what was important. When I look back on my mistakes, each one led to a shift in awareness and major breakthroughs. You needn’t experience an awakening to receive the benefits of personal growth, however every mistake is an opportunity to expand your mental landscape. There are no mistakes in a purposeful universe because there are no exams in life. I have no evidence of what takes place in the afterlife, let alone if it exists. For now, we must focus on the life we have and live it intentionally knowing mistakes are part of the journey.
I was drawn to a comment on TV recently regarding a documentary about women living in the Australian outback, known for its harsh conditions. One of the women interviewed said something that personifies the spirit of life. After losing her husband in a tragic motorcycle accident on their property she said: “Life is not fair, but it is still good.” In light of that, what if mistakes were life leaving you clues to your future success? What if they were an opportunity to draw you closer to your goals? Granted, they may be frustrating at the time and difficult to move past. The problem is not the mistakes themselves but our perception of them. It makes sense that we learn to consider our problems as signposts leading to victory instead of obstacles slowing us down. How do you feel about this as an idea? Are you willing to look at your mistakes with an open mind instead of dwelling on the pain?
Live A Purposeful Life
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” — Napoleon Hill
If we want to accomplish great things in life, strength of character is fundamental to achievement because it is developed in those tenuous moments. To realise our goals, we ought to embrace mistakes and allow them to shape our character since we will appreciate them more when looking back on our life. Mistakes are signs that lead to substantial inner growth. They are crucial to nudging us closer to our goals and ambitions. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching us vital lessons to expand our mind to new horizons we otherwise would not have expected. My past mistakes opened the doors to massive discoveries and a rise in motivation in the weeks and months that followed. I liken it to once training with a boxing instructor years ago to improve my fitness. He would often strike me with a forceful blow to the head with focus pads when I dropped my guard. As much as I despised it, I become better at thinking on my feet and not reacting. Therefore, my mistake of dropping my guard reminded me to protect my head at all times since I knew what would happen if I didn’t.
If you’re frustrated with your mistakes, I urge you to ask one simple question: “What could I possibly learn from this?” That question alone will help you focus on solutions rather than being mired in your mistakes. Consult those you respect whether they have made similar mistakes in the past. It might be the mistakes you’re making are ones most people make. Further to this, reflect on the mistakes I asked you about earlier in the article. Take a moment to draw up two columns on a sheet of paper. In the first column, title the header ‘Mistakes Made’ and in the second column write ‘Lessons Learned.’ You may want to use your journal or diary to record this. Continue looking back on what you’ve written every quarter so you’re able to realise the lessons gained from the mistakes. Ultimately, mistakes are crucial to learning and gaining knowledge and insights. Learn to embrace them and rise above your fears to live a purposeful life that you have always sought to live.
Call To Action
Do you want to lead a remarkable life? Are you committed to taking action despite your fears and doubts? Have you had enough of not achieving the success you seek? If so, download your FREE copy of my eBook NAVIGATE LIFE right now, and start your amazing journey of greatness today!
Originally published at Medium