How to Use Your Mistakes to Your Advantage

In order to be truly great, you have to be willing to fail.

But failure doesn't help you learn if all you do is beat yourself up when you make a mistake.

If you want to take your communication to the next level, you have to stop wasting your mistakes.

What does wasting your mistakes mean?

• Beating yourself up
• Quitting
• Refusing to look at what went wrong
• Trying to be perfect
• ...and so on

You're going to make mistakes, so why not use them to your advantage?

Here are some steps you can take to help you learn from your mistakes instead of throwing away the opportunity you have to learn:

1. Start where you are. The only thing you'll learn when you attempt to "start at the top" is that it's impossible. You can't decide on Friday that you're going to run a marathon on Monday. Start where you are and work up from there.
2. Critique in 3rd person. In our studio classes, I force the attorneys to debrief their video in third person, ie, "David didn't hold his gestures out," vs. "I didn't hold my gestures out." Research shows you'll learn more when you separate yourself from your critique by speaking in 3rd person. It sounds weird, but it works.  
3. Program in 1st person. Say, "Next time I am going to try..." etc. While you're at it, give yourself a compliment in 1st person. "Great job Sari!"
4. Ask yourself why. If you notice your gestures are small, or that you failed to really go after the doctor on cross exam, as yourself why. Maybe it's because you were afraid. Maybe you think you'll screw up. Whatever it is, there's always a thought beneath any action and when you change the thought, you change your result.

Use your mistakes to your advantage. Start really digging in when you make a mistake and use it as an opportunity to learn. Failing for failure's sake is a waste of time. Failing your way to greatness is possible when you learn from your mistakes.

Give this podcast a listen to learn more.