“Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.”

This is such a big one – both in business and in life. Some of us have a propensity to being addicted to beating ourselves up – with “You should know” or worse still  “You should have known better”.

Yeah! Right! Like we arrived with a fully functioning connected driving software package with comprehensive database of knowledge, driving instructions, map, compass and a ready-installed safety response mechanism to cater for all eventualities and deal with any encounters on the road of life. Hmm. Not very likely is it?

Well, we have to get over ourselves and embrace our mistakes as a natural part of our learning. That is what life is about. The fact that we didn’t know something and then learned about it is awesome. It proves that we have the capacity to learn.  That joy does not need to stop either.

If we shifted our focus to what we do  know and how we have triumphed over our lack of understanding then we can perhaps learn to celebrate the journey rather than stress over each time we crashed.

Better still, if we can shout out “NEXT?” and dive into the next bit of learning then perhaps it can become a ike white water rafting adventure. Question is  – exhilarating and exciting or scary as hell?