Okay, Lovely... put your hand up if you like making mistakes!
Hmmm... interesting question, right? I mean, who in the world would like making mistakes?
Coming from a recovering perfectionist, I used to fear mistakes and use them to beat myself up so much. But not anymore. Now that I understand the importance of making mistakes - and how powerful doing so can be - I am learning to embrace them.
Read on to discover why...
Let’s be honest. Nobody loves making mistakes. Whether it’s a simple typo in an email or a more costly business misstep, mistakes can leave us feeling frustrated, embarrassed or even defeated.
But here’s something that might surprise you:
Mistakes are not only inevitable, they’re actually necessary for your business growth.
It might sound a little counterintuitive, but making mistakes is one of the best things that can happen to you as an entrepreneur.
Why?
Because every mistake is a learning opportunity in disguise. In fact, if you’re not making any mistakes, you might not be pushing yourself or your business hard enough.
Now, before we dive any deeper into this discussion, let me make something clear. When I talk about making mistakes being okay, I'm not referring to a surgeon making mistakes while operating or anything that needs so much precision. For things of that nature, there needs to be additional systems and protocols in place to protect others.
But I'm talking here about making mistakes that we all do from time to time, and that we continue to punish ourselves for. Or we're so scared of making a mistake that we stay in our comfort zone. We don't actually do much of anything because that fear is holding us back.
Mistakes Are Part of the Journey
When you’re building a business, there’s no such thing as a flawless path. We all make wrong turns, choose the wrong strategies or experience a product launch that doesn’t quite hit the mark. But here’s the good news: mistakes help us learn and grow faster.
Think of your mistakes as feedback from the Universe (or whatever term resonates with you). Every time something doesn’t go as planned, it’s giving you valuable information about what you need to adjust, fix or try next. Without mistakes, you wouldn’t know where your blind spots are or how to improve.
Why You Need to Embrace Mistakes
Let’s dig into a few reasons why mistakes are actually good for your business:
They Help You Learn Faster
There’s nothing like a mistake to give you a wake-up call, right?
When something goes wrong, it forces you to stop, reflect and figure out what didn’t work. That process helps you learn faster than any book, course, or mentor ever could. Sure, theory is great, but real-world mistakes teach us in a way that’s unforgettable.
It’s like when you first learned to ride a bike. You probably wobbled, fell over and scraped your knees more than once. But each time you got back up, you learned something new — how to balance better or how to steer more smoothly.
Business is no different. Each mistake brings you one step closer to mastering your craft.
They Build Resilience
Let’s face it — mistakes can sting. But here’s the thing: every time you bounce back from a mistake, you’re building your resilience muscle. You’re proving to yourself that you can handle whatever comes your way, and that’s invaluable.
Resilience is one of the most important traits you can develop as an entrepreneur. It’s what allows you to keep going when things get tough, when a launch doesn’t go as planned or when clients don’t convert as quickly as you’d hoped.
The more resilient you become, the more unstoppable you are.
I have a client whose content I manage for him, including setting up his email broadcasts each week. He's very well known and has a large database, segmented into various sub-groups. One of my greatest fears was that I would make a mistake when scheduling his emails that go to 10s of thousands of his clients and subscribers.
Then one day earlier this year, I came face-to-face with that fear when I made a dreaded mistake. When I realised what had happened I was horrified! I started beating myself up. After all, I was rushing this task and knew I was tired and not thinking clearly. I double checked and tripled checked before scheduling it, but still missed this obvious mistake.
And do you know what happened?
I survived!
But after my initial gut-wretching reaction I began to see the blessing. I was able to take immediate action to mitigate any long-term issues, I set up systems to help prevent this mistake happening again and I felt so much stronger and more capable. I had faced one of my greatest fears and realised it wasn't real! There wasn't actually anything to fear!
They Drive Innovation
Some of the best innovations come from mistakes. Think about it... when something doesn’t work out, it forces you to think creatively and come up with new solutions. A mistake can lead to a breakthrough idea or a new way of doing things that you might never have discovered if everything had gone smoothly.
Did you know that many of the world’s greatest inventions were born from mistakes? Things like penicillin, Post-it notes and even the microwave oven were all discovered by accident.
So who knows? Your next big idea could be hiding behind a mistake.
They Keep You Humble and Authentic
Making mistakes has a way of keeping us grounded. When everything goes perfectly all the time, it’s easy to get caught up in our own success and forget about the learning process. Mistakes remind us that we’re human, that we’re still learning and that we’re always evolving.
And here’s the truth: your clients and customers don’t expect you to be perfect. In fact, they’ll likely connect with you more when they see that you’re authentic and real.
Sharing the lessons you’ve learned from your mistakes makes you more relatable and trustworthy.
How to Embrace Mistakes and Move Forward
Now that we’ve established why mistakes are so important, let’s talk about how to embrace them in a way that feels empowering rather than discouraging. Here are a few tips to help you turn mistakes into opportunities:
Shift Your Mindset
The first step in embracing mistakes is shifting your mindset. Instead of seeing mistakes as failures, start seeing them as stepping stones on your journey. Every time something doesn’t go as planned, ask yourself: “What can I learn from this?”
By reframing your mistakes as learning experiences, you’ll start to see them as valuable tools rather than setbacks. And trust me, that shift in mindset makes a huge difference in how you handle challenges moving forward.
Analyse and Adjust
When you make a mistake, don’t just sweep it under the rug. Take the time to analyse what happened and why.
- What were the contributing factors?
- What could you have done differently?
The goal isn’t to dwell on the mistake but to learn from it so that you can make better decisions in the future.
Once you’ve done your analysis, adjust your strategy accordingly. This might mean tweaking your marketing approach, changing your pricing or adjusting your systems. The key is to make adjustments and keep moving forward.
Surround Yourself with Support
Having a strong support system in place can make all the difference when you’re dealing with mistakes. Whether it’s a business coach, a mastermind group or a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, having people who understand the ups and downs of business is invaluable.
They’ll remind you that mistakes are normal, help you find solutions and provide the encouragement you need to keep going. Plus, they might even share their own mistakes and the lessons they learned along the way, so you can learn from them, too!
Celebrate Your Failures
Yes, you heard me right. I want you to celebrate your failures!
Each mistake you make is proof that you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and trying new things. So instead of beating yourself up when something goes wrong, give yourself a pat on the back for taking action and taking risks.
By celebrating your failures, you’re sending a powerful message to your subconscious that mistakes are a natural part of growth. And when you stop fearing mistakes, you’ll feel more confident taking bold action in your business.
Don't Fear Making Mistakes:
Mistakes are not the enemy... they’re your greatest teachers.
Embrace them. Learn from them. Use them as fuel to drive your business forward.
Every successful entrepreneur has made their fair share of mistakes and now it’s your turn. So go ahead... make those mistakes, learn from them and watch your business grow in ways you never thought possible.
