I don't know you and you don't know me. But I am going to go out on a limb and make a bold prediction for 2012. I don't want to offend you, but I am pretty sure about this one. Here it is:

You are going to make a mistake this year.

In fact, let's get together again as 2013 rolls around and compare notes. I'll have made some mistakes myself along the way. And if your mistakes are anything like mine, there will be some that we'll laugh over, a few we may cry over, but we can be consoled by the fact that we all make mistakes.

In a world full of people (like myself) who make mistakes, I'm hoping to learn how to handle mistakes when they happen. I don't intentionally try to make a mistake nor do I hope for mistakes. I'm simply trying to respond in the right way when they occur.

There's something about making a mistake that seems to draw a crowd. People gather around to see the carnage. They also want to see how the person who made the mistake handles it. It's interesting that people often appear more interested in a person's response to the mistake than the mistake itself.

With this in mind, I want to suggest three choices we face each time we make a mistake. Each of these choices center around one's willingness to take responsibility. Take responsibility for your mistakes and you'll be able to move forward. Avoid responsibility and you'll trap yourself in a downward spiral.

 

Choice #1: Make An Excuse or Move Toward Excellence

Why is our first response to a mistake often a lame attempt to avoid it by making up some type of excuse? From an early age we learn to respond with "not me!" while our hands are in the cookie jar. When we offer an excuse, it often comes in the form of blame, pride, defensiveness, insensitivity, and feeling like we're the victim.

But owning our mistakes allows us to move toward excellence. Oscar Wilde said, "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." People are more willing to forgive a mistake when we respond with "I'm sorry" rather than "I didn't do it." Owning our own mistakes instills humility within us. It moves us forward because we own the problem and can be intentional about moving toward the solution.


Choice #2: Leave It or Learn From It

I don't want to dwell on my mistakes. But I do want to reflect on them so that I know what I did wrong. A mistake is a mistake if you make it once. But if you continually make it, it becomes a flaw. This is why it's so important to choose to evaluate what caused the mistake. Garry Marshall said, "It's always helpful to learn from your mistakes because then your mistakes seem worthwhile."

Choice #3: Lose It or Use It For Something Else

Some of the most ingenious inventions of the 20th Century have been the result of a mistake. For example, the microwave oven came about in the midst of a radar-related research project by Dr. Percy Spencer around 1946. Dr. Spencer was testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron. In the midst of the experiment, he realized the candy bar in his pocket was melting.

The magnetron didn't produce the results he was looking for in radar technology. But as we all know now, it does a great job of heating up a bag of popcorn! Albert Einstein, who made thousands of mistakes in his lifetime stated, "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

A mistake in one area of your life may open the door for you to apply the lesson to another area. You may learn something this year that you never would have known if you hadn't tried.

Mistakes happen. You don't have to go out looking for them. But when they do occur you have a choice to make. Handle them responsibly and you may find that making mistakes and making discoveries are often similar journeys.