It feels like a lifetime ago when my kids were just starting school, but as my daughters are both now in high school, and one about to graduate, I can't help but reminisce on their early years.
We have been very fortunate to homeschool our kids for most of their lives. My oldest is in a charter school for her last couple years of high school which will allow her to graduate with an Associates Degree. Prior to high school, the only time she spent in the public school system was in her Kindergarten year, under Mrs. Knight.
Mrs. Knight taught her class a valuable lesson that I think most people should adopt. This is a lesson that has stuck with me ever since I heard her say it, and I've used it in my own life ever since.
"If you can't make a mistake you can't make anything" ~ Mrs. Knight
I think it was General Patton during WWII that said, "A good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Winston Churchill also has a quote saying "Perfection is the enemy of progress."
There are so many instances that I can think of in my life where I see those around me trying to get things just perfect before they start. The problem with that is they rarely start. Things come together so much better when we simply take action. Think about it, have you ever tried to steer a parked car?
Unfortunately, our society has become so focused on the idea of perfection that even our corporate leadership demands more and more that their employees are flawless in all that they do. I've spoken to so many people in various industries who are under constant stress because they feel that a simple mistake will cost them their jobs. As leaders, why do we do this?
One of the world's most renown leadership experts and trainers, John Maxwell, has a fantastic model of delegation.
"If someone else can do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I give it to them." ~ John Maxwell
Here's the rub between Maxwell and so many managers and leaders in corporate America today. If they can only do it 80% as well, doesn't that mean they are going to make mistakes?
OF COURSE IT DOES!!!
Hear me on this, folks. Mistakes are not your enemy. They happen all day, every day, and that is how we learn and grow. If you're not making mistakes all the time than I'm going to make the assumption that you are no longer challenged and that you are no longer growing.
To get better in life means that we have to try new things. New things are just that... new. The first time you rode a bike I'll bet you fell down. The first time you slow danced with a partner you stepped on their toes. The first time you tried speaking a foreign language you used a few incorrect words. These are all ok. We learn from mistakes, and that is what makes us able to grow, develop, innovate, and thrive.
Mistakes are not your enemy, they are your friend. You may have heard a saying like 'failure is just a paving stone on the road to success,' so let me encourage you to think of mistakes as necessary functions of learning. Just because you don't do it perfect doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it.
And leaders. Don't hold your employees or subordinates to an impossible standard. Allow them to make mistakes and learn from them. Give them tasks that you know they can't do as well as you because you may discover that they find a way to do it that's better than you can do it yourself. You have the opportunity to grow as a leader when you allow those under you to grow as well.
Delegation is hard the first time you do it, but it gets easier the more you do it.
Find your freedom in enjoying your mistakes and they journey they take you on.
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