Jul
Are You Mistaken?
Have you ever chanced making a mistake?
Most of us have. Things can go wrong, no matter how much we try to get them right. Usually the mistakes are not a big thing. It might be as simple missing a turn on a strange highway or forgetting an item at the supermarket. The majority of us hardly skip a beat when confronted by small mistakes. We correct them and move on to the next thing.
Big mistakes happen, too. It might be choosing the wrong college, buying a car that is less then suitable, or making a bad business decision. These big things can be corrected, although sometimes the damage is on a larger scale and might not be as easy to repair. The added woe is that big mistakes are conspicuous. People see that you goofed. There will likely be some talk about it.
Mistakes happen. The only sure way to avoid them is to avoid making decisions. There are people who are so afraid of making mistakes that they avoid decisions and anything that might put them ‘on the spot’. Decisions are either left to someone else, or they are not made at all. The result is that these people become inert. They have no impact, even within their own lives.
Mistakes happen. The price of making a difference is that you may occasionally make a mistake. If you are making decisions and acting on them, there is a good chance that you will occasionally err. Your character will show when you have to correct your mistake. The lesser individual will make excuses or try to foist blame onto someone else. The better individual will take responsibility for his part of the mistake, and then work to amend the situation.
The simple fact is that the possibility of mistakes is an occupational hazard for the decisive and responsible individual. You can only get ahead by risking an occasional flub. That is far better than being so afraid of mistakes that you do nothing at all.
We all make mistakes some time. They are the price of progress. Let us not let our fear of error keep us from doing what we must. Instead, let us bravely make the best decisions we can, knowing that each of us can deal with the consequences, for good or bad.
