Advice From a 97-Year-Old Champion
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.”
So said John Wooden, the Hall of Fame basketball coach for UCLA who won a record 10 NCAA championships.
So many people do everything they can to avoid making mistakes – yet mistakes are the corrective feedback we need to help us reach our goals. Better to take action and correct mistakes while you’re in motion than to sit idle trying to figure out how not to make a wrong move.
It’s like driving a car. You must always have your hands on the wheel so you can make minor adjustments. You must continually modify and correct your course based upon ongoing feedback.
When you make a mistake and someone points it out to you, don’t say “I’m sorry.” The correct response is: “Thank you for telling me that. I’ll work on it.”
People who see feedback as helpful are grateful to learn what is steering them away from their goals. It may be tough to listen and be open to change – but it’s what the best of the best do.
Yes, you have the option to agree or disagree with the feedback – and you’ll become better at discerning what is helpful and what isn’t the more you practice listening to it. But you’ll never get anywhere if you view mistakes as negative and feedback as undesirable.
My best students LOVE getting my advice – even, as they would say, “raked over the coals.” They beg me to show them their mistakes.
Keep all of this in mind as you go through your day today. Mistakes are nothing to fear. Nor is the feedback that will help you improve.
[Ed. Note: Matt Furey is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of self-development, fitness, and martial arts, and is the president of the Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation, Inc. With Matt's 101 Ways to Magnetize Money, you can learn the REAL SECRETS of financial success known only to the most prosperous men and women who have ever lived. Find out more right here.]
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