What mistakes have you made in your job in the last year?
One of my mentors (Jon Williams) once asked me this question, and I proudly said I hadn’t made any major mistakes. He looked at me sadly and said something like “If you’re not making a catastrophic mistake at work at least once or twice a year, you’re not pushing hard enough!”
This made no sense to me at the time. I had always prided myself on having the right answer and getting 100% on tests, so I couldn’t process the idea that making mistakes could be a good thing.
I’ve since realized that being so reluctant to make a mistake also meant that I was never near the edge of my capabilities – I wasn’t pushing myself to my limits. My mentor’s point was that if I wanted to grow faster, I had to risk more, similar to how risks and returns are often correlated in investing.
I’m still nervous about mistakes, but I’m working on changing my mindset to think of mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. And my personal growth has skyrocketed in the past few years as a result of taking on more risk.
I’m curious what your relationship to risk and mistakes looks like if you’d like to share in the comments.
#coaching #mindset #personaldevelopment #personalgrowth #risk