In life we make many mistakes.  More than we can count.  Some are big, some are small.  Some people try to focus on minimizing the mistakes they make.  This is a sound approach, but not balanced.  The fact of the matter is that we’re bound to make a mistake at some point.  It’s just a matter of when.

Our focus should instead be on changing our views on the mistakes that we make.  The old saying goes, that when life gives you lemons, you should use it to make lemonade.  In other words, when things aren’t going your way, try to see how you can spin the situation to your benefit.  This leads to the first point.

Board the Positivity Plane

When you make what you think is a mistake, try to change your perspective.  Rather than seeing it as a failure, flip it upside down.  Instead, look at it as an opportunity to learn.  Yes, I’m asking you to put on those rosy colored glasses and to be optimistic about the situation.  In fact, you should board the positivity plane.  Here is why optimism pays off.  What good will beating yourself up over the mistake do for you?  Nothing.  What’s done is done.  All that’s left is to see what you can gain.

Extract the lesson immediately

As soon as you realize you made a mistake, take a look at the situation and try to see what you can gain from everything.  This is similar to finding meaning in hardships, you’re trying to look for something good you can gain out of the experience.  Ask yourself what it is that went wrong that caused this mistake and what you can do to prevent it from happening again.

This is an important step to do right away, because it enables us to process the information we have about the experience, while it is fresh in our minds.  Over time it becomes more difficult to tap into that information.  Doing this also has the benefit of preventing us from focusing on the negative aspects of the situation.

Avoid beating yourself up after

Part of this post, and especially this part, was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine.  She was talking about all of the unfortunate things she had happen to her within the past several months.  Nothing seemed to be going her way and she kept talking about how she failed in so many aspects.

She just seemed to view herself as a complete failure.  She was so fixated on finding something wrong with herself, when really there was nothing wrong with her.  She had just made a few small mistakes, nothing that was irreparable.  The challenge was that she was stuck on the Pain Train instead of on the Positivity Plane.  That can be damaging to one’s confidence and create lots of anxiety, neither which are good for your health.

Move forward

I know that it can be difficult to move forward.  I’ve been in this spot before, where you just can’t get motivated and you have a hard time bashing the blues.  It is important that we do move on, however, otherwise feelings of failure will just continue to consume our lives.  We need to try our best to live and let go of things.

Create opportunities

Now that we have learned our lessons from the mistakes we’ve made, we can capitalize on using that information to create opportunities for ourselves.  With our optimistic attitudes, learning our lessons, refraining from treating ourselves like punching bags, and getting past our mistakes we can apply all that information and experience to take lemons and make lemonade, or to ensure our blunders become our thunder.  In other words, apply all the knowledge and experience you gained into making your future better.