Your mistake has a gift for you. Will you accept it?

In a M.A.P. Maker podcast a few months ago, Howard Behar (former President of Starbucks) talked about the value of what he called "celebrating failure." Here's what he had to say:

So when you do something like that, you’re forced to ask yourself the question, what did I miss there? And I think that if you can celebrate that – and I don’t mean you go throw yourself a big party and say, “Yay! We were a failure! Isn’t it wonderful?!” I’m not talking about that. But I’m talking about celebrating the fact that we tried something, and it didn’t work, and then understanding what we did, how we would have made it better, and what changes we would have made.

Like them or not, mistakes often come bearing gifts if we're open to receiving them. Today, over on the US News & World Report blog, I explore that idea, inspired by one of my favorite quotes from Miles Davis: "Do not fear mistakes. There are none."

Read: What if you'd made no mistakes in your life?

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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Comments

[Heather Rast]

Usually for better and occasionally for worse, I've lived my life with the notion that I'd rather leap and risk than look and preserve. Naturally, when my feet find secure purchase on the other side, I look back and consider the 99 other ways it could have worked out. And I even like to think that with some time and distance, I'm strong enough to handle the same type of reflection following the times my feet don't land securely. I've heard a saying, that every morning both the lion and the gazelle wake up on the plain...it's about who runs the fastest and remembers the terrain.

[Curt Rosengren]

And it's those times when it doesn't work out that often give us the insights we need to take the next leap forward (if we'll actually stop to take a look at what there is to learn).

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Heather.