Recovering from Mistakes

Ever had something like this happen to you? You have done something that you were so not proud of and you know it was so bad you may have gotten the wrong impression from others or even yourself that you just want to hide from everyone because the mistake was that bad?

Yeah; me too.

It hurts! Believe me, I have had my fair share of incredibly embarrassing mistakes; and many mistakes after that. Many many many more! I am ONE to tell you that these mistakes have never been intentional; if they were, I probably would not be out there being a keynote speaker. I could go on and on about the large majority of these mistakes here, but this is not a good time to talk about them for now; granted, thinking back, they were all kinds of bitter-sweetness and worthy of long lasting scars, but not today. This is about how to recover from them. Here is how it worked for me.

• STOP what you are doing.
• THINK what has happened.
• ACCEPT the events.
• LOOK at the situation.
• REACH OUT for assistance.
• LISTEN to advice.
• LEARN from the mistakes and make the attempt to not do them again.

Slight nostalgia here because when we first started this plan, it was only four things years before starting AutismWorks; and that was STOP, THINK, LOOK, and LISTEN. Some inspiration from a computer game that teaches kids all about phonics; Feel free to check it out if you’re interested. The point is clear after every mistake. This was and has always been my way of handling them; I will make unintentional mistakes later on, but until they happen, I follow the seven steps.

Mistakes always hurt, but I never was the giving up type. I can take the pain. Can you? Are you the one that also never gives up even after so much headache and heartache? Give yourself some slack. Failure is bound to happen, but it is better to be a failure than to GIVE UP. Giving up is the true definition of failure. The way I see it anyway; Unless if you’re in a casino, then there would be a time where you just walk away; That’s not giving up, that’s just being smart with your funds. Jokes aside, I’ve seen kids that have made so much improvements in cognitive skills because of that one feature they all have in common; Never giving up. Even after so many mistakes, they TAKE the pain of embarrassment and keep moving forward. By this, I will like to end this blog by sharing some words of encouragement I often would say at keynote events.

When you fail, fail forward.