The TRUTH of Mistakes

Anyone who says they never made a mistake cannot be trusted to tell the TRUTH. We all have and those that I have found to be the most intelligent have probably made the greatest number of mistakes. Every mistake we make is feedback, a real-time report of what did or did not work. They are mini-scientific experiments pointing, eventually, to the TRUTH.

Many see mistakes as failures or as dead ends. The best, see them as guideposts or guard rails for direction, realignment, or re-adjustment. They don’t crumble; they change courses.

When you fail the next time, and you will fail again, ask yourself these three specific questions:

1. Specifically, what went wrong – dig into the situation until you find the root causes. Keep asking “WHY?” until you get down to an identified TRUTH.
2. What were the actions or decisions that led to this outcome? Point to the specific TRUTH.
3. Decide what you might do differently the next time you are faced with this situation.

It is a simple formula … Analyze – Adjust – Refine.  TRUTH is a strategy that helps you make better decisions through gathering information, testing it through questions and experience, interpreting the knowledge you have gained in the context of the situation and the understanding that it has been proven to be correct.

Thomas Edison put this best. He saw mistakes as steppingstones to success. Perhaps his most famous quote came during his quest to invent the light bulb. He said, “I haven’t failed; I’ve simply discovered 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

We will all encounter setbacks and problems throughout our lives. How we react, how we respond will determine our true success or failure in life. Perhaps there is no other critical area of this than problem solving. Problem-solving is a vital skill that applies to both work projects and personal challenges. It involves critical thinking and creative solution-finding. Whether dealing with complex work tasks or personal issues, effective problem-solving is essential for success. Too often, however, we try to rely on our “problem solving abilities” as if they are some magical abilities, we have for addressing problems.

There is no magic about it. Solving problems require zooming in to discover information and analyzing that information to discover opportunities. It then requires zooming out to put the information gained into perspective in deciding what needs to be done, or what steps will bring us to success the quickest. Discovering and applying TRUTH is essential to this process.

While many problems can be solved, there are also situations in which there is no “perfect” solution or in which what seems to be the best solution still leaves you feeling unsatisfied or like you’re not doing enough. Here are some harsh TRUTHS about problem solving:

1. You can’t always solve everyone else’s problems.
2. You can’t always solve all your own problems.
3. You are not a failure if you can’t solve every problem.

We set goals to guide our work and establish specific objectives to meet along the way. What we often fail to do, however, is to establish strategies to be effective. Effective work is about moving toward the desired destination, and not necessarily about ensuring that nothing gets spilled or knocked over in the process. We may not always hit the mark. Mistakes will happen.

The bottom line in this entire conversation is how will we react to our mistakes? Will we learn new lessons and apply new TRUTHS, or continue making the same mistakes? Will we use our failures to gain new knowledge and understanding? Will we ignore what we have learned, compounding it with lies or deceptions, or will we rise to new heights? None of us are perfect people but we all must strive for perfection in everything we do!