If You’re Making “Mistakes”, You’re On The Right Path

Why the quotes around mistakes? Because you know just as well as I do that they’re not really mistakes. They just look like them at first glance. They are in fact signals that guide you to the hidden opportunities that lie within. If you’re making these mistakes, you’re on the right path. You’re moving toward the inevitable achievement of your dreams.

One of the biggest traps that people fall into when they want to pursue their dreams is that they go on an information binge. They seek to devour as much information as possible to avoid making mistakes in the future. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly prudent to do some research beforehand, but the trap that comes with going on an information binge is, besides the fact that you don’t take action, is that you try to learn all you can to avoid every single mistake in the future and by doing that, you deprive yourself of the many opportunities that can actually help you to achieve your dream.

I know it sounds like an oxymoron. How can avoiding mistakes actually harm you?

It’s because you don’t see where you NEED to make progress on. Mistakes give us feedback on where we need to shift our focus on and we don’t get that if we constantly go on an information binge.

Mistakes give feedback on WHAT needs to be fixed.

Information will NEVER remove all the mistakes.

The only way you’re going to get that feedback is if you make mistakes and mistakes can only be made when action is taken.

Those mistakes will provide you the information you NEED to get what you want. In other words, it will point out where you are deficient in and give you the opportunity to strengthen it. If you look at it that way, you’re actually saving time because you now know what needs to be worked on and what doesn’t. The thing is you can’t get that feedback if you sit there and read all day. The experiences we gather from actually doing an activity rather than reading about it are different as night and day.

The only thing I can do is pound the fact that you WILL make these mistakes and they are FOR you, not against you. As ludicrous as it sounds, it’s right. You’ll find once you take action, all of that knowledge you read may not apply. Some of what you read might be more important so you start to refine the information, toss what you don’t need and focus on what’s working. Making mistakes are those adjustments you make while you sail toward your destination.

You’ll also find that each mistake you make builds off one another. Each mistake you say? Yes. Each mistake. Let me clear up any confusion that might be occurring in the minds of readers right now. You WILL definitely make mistakes during your journey. It will happen. Make no doubt about it. But they are for YOUR benefit. Most of us can’t really see how each mistake builds off one another, but it does. Again, it’s not a tit for tat or 1 for 1 exchange. You slowly get an exponential amount of growth from each mistake you make and learn from.

We can always learn something from each mistake that propels us to the next level. Each mistake builds off one another. That’s a very important concept to understand. In that way, you actually become grateful for it. Each mistake we make turns into an opportunity to become better and as we progress, we make better and better mistakes that create better and better opportunities. It’s a great cycle and you develop something that a lot of people don’t have; an appreciation for these mistakes.

Each mistake also has the potential to take us on a tangent that we never would’ve taken had we not made that mistake, and more often that not, it’s those exact tangents that take us closer to the achievement of our dreams. None of us have the foresight to project and see how each these tangents take us closer to the achievement of our dreams. We can only see how those tangents have helped us when we look back. We can try to guess, but it’s very hard to do it in that moment.

All we can do is look at the present moment and learn from it to move forward and slowly build off our foundation of “mistakes”. Look at any interview of a successful person and you’ll see them grin when asked the question of if they made any mistakes. Often you’ll find they’ll slap their forehead and go on a spiel of how many stupid things they did, but that each one helped them immensely and built off one another to get them to where they are today.

When we experience these mistakes, we really learn. They tend to stay with us longer. How many of us have heard advice all the time on not to engage in certain activities but how many people go ahead and do it anyways and then truly experience the pain of making that mistake? There is something about the experience of making a mistake that gets seared in our brain so that we really learn from it.

Making mistakes also is a very humbling experience. It makes us realize we don’t know all there is to know so we reach out for help. In that sense, we really learn as well because we are forced to go outside ourselves and more often that not, the information we learn from seeking help outside ourselves in turn helps us to achieve our goals.

The point I want to make is people don’t realize the full potential that each mistake brings. They want to avoid making mistakes but the irony is that those mistakes are what they NEED. So don’t have a narrow minded view when it comes to mistakes. See how each mistake actually contributes and moves you forward rather than back and don’t be afraid to make them. They are there to help you. Make no doubt about it. Making them is a sign you’re on the right track.

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When You Feel Down About Going for Your Dreams, Read This

If there’s one thing that I wish to impart to those who have started down the path toward the fulfillment of their dreams, it is this: appreciate the journey.

One of the traps that many people fall into is focusing too much on the end goal in terms of only thinking that fulfilling it is a sign of success and disregarding everything else. People get discouraged because they don’t see the accomplishment of their end goal in the near future. It does take time.

This kind of thinking is further exacerbated when people ask you where your results are. Show me the proof they say or what have you accomplished so far? You’ll find that the majority of the people outside of you only care about what you’ve done, but don’t let that kind of thinking get to you because it can backfire. We need a pat on the back every now and then, even though our final objective has not been fulfilled. The exact prescription for those pats on the backs that will keep you going is the journey.

Every now and then along your journey, just sit down and take into account what you’ve done so far. You’ll be surprised at how far along you’ve come. You will have picked up a rich cornucopia of knowledge, contacts, skills, opportunities to test your resolve, experiences of triumphing over obstacles, etc., that you never would have got before had you not undertaken this journey of yours.

Make no doubt about it though, mistakes will be made along the journey. You might fall into heavy debt if you were trying to start your own business, you might go bankrupt, you might get rejected hundreds of times, people will mock and ridicule you, but that’s all part of the process. All of this is meant for two things. To separate those who really want it from those who don’t and to see if you learn from the lessons that are hidden within each mistake.

Every experience along your journey is meant to teach you something to propel you forward. Each time you feel depressed, it’s a sign to remind yourself of why you’re doing what you’re doing, to further reinforce the drive in you that keeps you going. Each time you encounter an obstacle, it’s a test to see how bad you want it and how smart you are in figuring out what to learn from it. Each time you are ridiculed from friends and family for following your dream, it’s a test to see how firm your foundation is and it presents another opportunity to fortify it even further.

If you focus too much on getting to the end goal, you’ll misinterpret all the things that happen along your journey. You’ll become frustrated because the end goal you so desperately want to achieve is not coming as quickly as you would like it to. Step back, breathe and realize that everything is part of the journey. Appreciate it. Be thankful for it. The mistakes, the setbacks, the small victories, the lessons learned, the new people you meet, the new knowledge you’ve gained, but most importantly of all, appreciate the fact that you found the courage to start and advance toward the direction of your dream. You’ve chosen the path that few take, the path of living YOUR dreams, not the ones that others have laid before you.

Appreciating the journey is a powerful frame to keep you going. It implies a beginning, middle, and end. You’ve already started and now you’re just in the middle and the end is inevitable. Keeping in mind our journey constantly reminds and encourages us that we we will get there.

Appreciate the journey because it is teaching you everything you need in order to get to your end destination. Don’t get discouraged because you equate your achievement with the attainment of your goal. You are already achieving. If you take stock as to what you’ve learned and accomplished so far, you’ll realize that you’ve underestimated yourself, that the limits you imposed only exist in your mind, and that you are truly making progress. Nothing breeds progress like progress.

The longer you stay on the journey, the wiser, the stronger, and the more determined you will become.

Then when you accomplish your dream, when you make it a reality, you will come to realize one thing and that is: the journey has truly SERVED YOU.

Tag : www.briankim.net