Stop Making the Same Mistakes
We’ve all done it – made the same mistake more than once. Maybe it’s the mistake of falling for the same type of person (who’s bad for you) over and over or maybe it’s failing to lose weight over and over or failing to close sale after sale. Here’s a process to help you stop the cycle:
Step One – Accept responsibility. Admit that the one common factor in all these repeated mistakes is you.
Step Two – Decide if you really want to fix the mistake. Do you want to give up the bad guys (or girls), the sweets and chips, the downtime of not having to service clients?
Step Three – Get smart. Get your hands on great books on your area of concern. Read multiple, reputable sources and look for common advice and ideas. No one source has all the answers. You have to completely understand your mistakes. Sometimes knowledge alone is enough to stop us from repeating the mistake.
Step Four – Practice introspection. Now that you have some real knowledge – apply it. Figure out why you are making the mistake. Maybe you are repeating childhood patterns, maybe you are eating because you are bored, maybe you don’t close sales because you are afraid of rejection.
Step Five – Identify ways to avoid making the mistake again. During your research, you’ll discover that thousands of people have struggled with the same issues. You’ll discover dozens of solutions although not all of them will work for you. You need to pick some you will you actually execute. Will you really stop all contact with the jerk? Are you really going to start running five miles a day? Will you really make 15 cold calls a day? If no, pick another solution or scale this solution down.
Step Six – Implement one of the new solutions. Substitute new behavior for the old mistake causing behavior.
Step Seven – Evaluate and adjust. The first solution you try may not work for you. That’s okay – there are plenty more where that one came from.
Let your mistakes change you.
