“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce

We are all human, which means that we all make mistakes. It can be easy to dwell on these mistakes and beat ourselves up about these mistakes. But what if, instead, we approached our mistakes in a positive and proactive way? 

By doing so, we can take our mistakes as an opportunity to learn something about ourselves and how to do better, rather than beating ourselves up over them. Learning to do so can positively affect you in the workplace, your personal and professional relationships, and your mental health.   

Looking at a mistake you made positively can feel challenging. But by shifting your mindset to viewing a mistake as an opportunity to learn, you can know to react differently when you make a mistake rather than only viewing it as a negative experience. This will help motivate you to respond differently next time and to fix the mistake at hand.

When you learn to look at a mistake positively, you are priming yourself to think proactively. This means both being aware of your mistake and then taking action to fix it. It is essential to analyze what went wrong and why so that you can take the right action. Identifying what skills and tools you may need to fix your mistakes will build these skills so that you won’t make the same mistake in the future.

Some mistakes are more severe than others, but for the fixable ones, having a positive and proactive mindset will help you not only for your current mistakes but for ones in the future as well.