A Checklist to Making the Most of Your Mistakes

Someone very important to me recently suggested that I rarely, if ever, talk about my mistakes.

He said, “You’re always the hero in your stories. You never talk about screwing up, making bad decisions, and you never talk about times when you did the wrong thing.”

He’s right about one thing. I don’t talk about my mistakes often.

I’ve made plenty of bad decisions, wrong moves, and frankly, done some things that I will always be ashamed of and embarrassed about for not knowing better. I’ve hurt people, progress, revenue, and often delayed success by my mistakes.

And I do often emerge as the victor. Why? There is little satisfaction in talking about failure. I will never deny them, but there’s much to celebrate in overcoming mistakes, not making many of them twice, and acknowledging them without letting them define me.

Been there. Done that. Learned from it. Moved on to making more!

Mistakes are unavoidable. They can be useful if you respond to them well. They are valuable in your personal and professional growth. And they’re a better alternative to not making mistakes because you lacked courage to risk making mistakes.

10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Mistakes

Here’s a handy checklist for making the most of your mistakes.

1. Hedge your bets.

No matter your confidence, accept the possibility that you might be wrong before you make an important decision or take necessary action. Hedge your risk by minimizing the expense and amount of time before knowing whether you were wrong. What will you need to know to determine whether you’re on track, and how soon can you know it? Begin your post-decision review as soon as possible.

2. Trust others.

Once your decisions are made, separate yourself (to the extent you can) from the evaluation of whether you’re on track. Encourage people you trust to tell you the truth. Separate yourself from the emotion related to your decision or action. You won’t have a problem celebrating the good but have the courage and humility to acknowledge the bad…and the ugly. Be openly appreciative of their honest feedback and pay close attention to what they have to say.

3. Recognize mistakes early.

Resist the urge to want more time and/or money to evaluate whether it’s a mistake. If others suggest it’s a mistake, don’t deny the possibility or make excuses. You asked them to help you evaluate the possibility of a mistake fairly. Don’t throw good money after bad to allow more time for the possibility of making you right.

4. Accept ownership.

Never play the blame game. It was your decision, your action. Everyone around you is watching for whether you’ll accept your role in the mistake and how you’ll react. Will you become mired in self-pity or will you help evaluate what went wrong in a healthy, meaningful and constructive way? Apologize when necessary.

5. Formalize the Post-Mortem Analysis.

Be on guard for a defensive posture, in others and in you, as you work with others to learn the lesson from what went wrong. Own the mistake without being defensive and help lead the process of determining the lesson from your experience. Hindsight is often 20/20. What could have been done differently, better, or perhaps not all?

6. Fix what you can.

Can you correct the errors or mistakes? Is all lost or is it worth another try with modified strategy or execution? Brainstorm. Dream. Listen to others. Seriously consider whether it’s worth keeping the idea alive or moving on to the next one.

7. Determine future value.

What can you learn from this analysis that will help guide your future decisions and actions? Turn your lesson into a list of considerations, boundaries, process controls, revised decision-tree, or modified workflow or methodology that will benefit future decision-making and help you to not make the same mistakes again.

8. Forgive yourself.

You made a bad decision or took the wrong action. Every great leader has been there. Great leaders know the real damage doesn’t come from making the mistake as much as it comes from mishandling what you do once you know it was wrong. You can take ownership, fix what you can and determine the next step without beating yourself up.

9. Move on.

Your team is watching. Great leaders bounce back. They show teams the value of owning your mistakes, using what you learned, and moving on. History is littered with brilliant people who made many mistakes before finding success. Be one of them.

10. Wear the badge.

I’d disappoint the guy who criticized me last week for not talking about my mistakes. When I talk about success, I see little need to talk about how many times I got it wrong before I got it right. Am I aware of my mistakes? I’ll never forget them. Did they own me? Never. In fact, I believe I made more mistakes than most people I knew who worked and lived around me. I simply to choose to talk about worked, which in many ways is about what we did as a team to overcome what didn’t.