I’ve made a lot of mistakes while traveling. I’ve been robbed in Argentina. I got sick off of Bhang in Varanasi. I’ve lost credit cards.
Over time I began to realize that every “mistake” is always an opportunity for growth.
When I make a mistake I ask myself two questions.
What went wrong?
How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again?
I ask myself these two questions, and then I create a system to make sure I don’t repeat my blunder.
Every mistake has been an opportunity for reflection. An opportunity to understand my shortcomings and work on improving them.
Each mistake is a blessing…if you’re open to it.
You can only make a mistake if you don’t learn to act differently in the future.
For example when traveling in Argentina I was robbed at 6 in the morning while drinking and playing music on the sidewalk.
I’ve never been robbed again.
I’ve accidentally offended people in different languages…but then learned to become better at speaking that language because of it.
Now we can also say “mistake” in the context of accident. An unintended result of something that you did.
I believe that if you look at the root cause of any “accident” there is someone who made a bad decision somewhere along the line.
Someone who was the cause of a ripple that went outwards. The cause of that accident might not even be you. But it still may be an opportunity to learn how to avoid similar accidents for the future.
Also remember that if you’re repeating the same mistake over and over now, it has ceased to become a mistake and is instead a bad habit.
Personally throughout my travels and business all of my “mistakes” have lead me to the most profound discoveries about myself.
As long as there is a lesson to be learned from the “mistake” then it was never a mistake at all. Learn from your past decisions and become a better person.
