5 ways to learn from your mistakes

Leverage the learning opportunities in every mistake. Having trouble viewing this email? Click here He had control of it; he didn't have control of it. It was a neighborhood play; it wasn't... Whether you watched Game 1 of the World Series last night or whether you didn't even know that baseball was still being played in October doesn't matter. What matters is that the umpires believe that they made a mistake, they admitted it and they righted it. The truth is, we all make mistakes. And if we want to be effective leaders, we must leverage the rich learning opportunities found in mistakes. Below are five steps that will help you will not only learn from mistakes but create a proactive approach to future improvement as well. 1. Recognize it is a mistake. While we can learn from any experience, recognizing our mistakes gives us a useful humility and provides not only for learning, but improvement. 2. Recognize why it happened. Spend a few minutes thinking about the situation and the circumstances that lead to the mistake or error. Consider too what you did to contribute to our cause the error. 3. Consider your choices and assumptions. Since we don’t typically go into a situation trying to make a mistake.  It is helpful to consider the situation in retrospect thinking about the assumptions we made that contributed to the mistake and the choices we made based on our assumptions and the situations as we saw it at that time. 4. Decide what to do differently next time. This is the answer to the critical learning question, “based on what I know now, what will I do differently next time?” Answering this question with a clear understanding of both the why and your choices, will give you a more complete, confident and meaningful answer to this question. 5. Decide how you will anticipate this next time. The final question is to help you identify clues, warning signs or patterns that might lead to a similar situation in the future. Ask yourself what clues will remind you or what will help you anticipate a similar problem in the future. No one likes making mistakes. This set of steps won’t guarantee you make fewer, but it will, when applied keep you from repeating mistakes and will help you continue to grow your skills and improve your results.    Kevin Eikenberry Chief Potential Officer The Kevin Eikenberry Group   p.s. Don't make the mistake of ignoring your career and leadership development. Make the commitment to yourself and your success with a registration to Remarkable Leadership workshop. Learn more here. Don't make the mistake of ignoring your leadership development! Get proven, actionable techniques to master effective leadership at: Our Upcoming Schedule: 2013 Dates Anaheim, CA: Nov. 5-6 Orlando, FL: Dec. 9-10 2014 Dates Atlanta, GA: Feb. 25-26 Chicago, IL: Mar. 18-19 Washington, DC: May 1-2 Seattle, WA: June 17-18 The Kevin Eikenberry Group | 8021 Westover Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268 United States | (317) 387-1424 This email was sent to this address: alanrussell@princetoncap.com Update My Contact Information | Unsubscribe