This is not a bold statement. It’s neither intended to lure you into reading this article nor is it intended to intimidate you if you are a perfectionist. It’s my cut of the truth. A slice of reality. A piece of the veritus absolutus. Here is the truth- and please don’t close your ears: You are going to make so many mistakes in your life. You have made so many mistakes in your life. Everyone makes mistakes. But that’s not what I really wanted to say. What I wanted to say is: MISTAKES ARE GOOD! Kill me if you can but that’s the truth.

The first person to make mistakes was God himself. Now you may say, “Ney, God does not make mistakes.” Oh yes he does. And God regrets his mistakes and learns from them. There is evidence through the Bible to show that God has made mistakes in the past. I am sure if the Bible was still being written we would find scriptural references to show that God is still making mistakes and learning from them.

Before you hang me on the cross, allow me to define what a mistake is. A mistake is an error in judgment. Webster’s dictionary defines a mistake as a blunder in the choice. So you ask, “Has God ever blundered in choice?” The answer is yes; several times. Read your Bible.

This article is not about theology though. It’s about business. So let’s dive into our business lesson.

A lot of people fear to make mistakes. They sit around and wait forever because they are paralyzed by fear of making mistakes.  Because of their fear of making mistakes, they never try anything. And because they never try anything, they never fail. And that’s exactly what they want- a history of not failing. But NOT FAILING does not equate SUCCEEDING. Success comes only to those who try things. But when you try, you are guaranteed to fail sometimes. And it’s that repetitive failure that teaches us the greatest lessons in life. Failure is the best teacher, and only those who make mistakes can learn from this great educator. Those who allow failure to instruct them will reap great rewards of self determination.

As a business owner, you will make so many mistakes in your business life. You must however learn how to get up after every mistake and make progress. Make your mistakes but make them fast so you can get up and do something right. Remember that every mistake is a step toward success.  Here are a few people that have lived this truth in their lives:

1. Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

1. As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. After wards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. He later went on to become one of America’s greatest presidents.
2. English crime novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. May be that explains why his books appear in 28 different pseudonyms. Let me know when your book gets rejected for the 200^th time. You have 500 trials to go.

Next time you get cold feet about making mistakes, think of all the things you could learn from making mistakes. Think of mistakes as golden experiences not to be repeated. Think of them as your best teacher.

Are you ready to make mistakes? Let’s go!