Often times we get stuck thinking about mistakes we’ve made. Maybe we feel shame or regret and the feeling is so strong, we allow it to define us. Maybe it’s penance we feel we must pay. But our mistakes are just experience, not who we are.
I’ve made some pretty big mistakes in my life. But when I look back, I feel grateful for having made them because of what I learned in the process. And believe me when I tell you that the price of many of my mistakes have been quite steep.
The truth is, good people make decisions to do bad things every day. And we all fall down sometimes. What matters is what we do when we get back up again. What matters is what we do with that experience.
Many people who have been successful talk about all the mistakes they made along their journey. Why is that? Because those were pivotal moments for them where they learned what not to do or what didn’t work. They didn’t say, “well I can’t do this whole entrepreneur thing because that clearly isn’t who I am because I keep making mistakes.” No, if anything, those mistakes fueled them to keep going, even if it meant making more mistakes. They didn’t define themselves by their mistakes. They knew their mistakes weren’t who they are.
Remember, we are not what happened to us or our decisions. They are things that happened to us or are things we did. They are not who we are.
