“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein.

In last week’s blog I talked about my late mother and the lasting impact her kindness had on a lady she worked with. At the end of the blog, I suggested that people reflect and consider how they could use their gifts and talents to positively impact the world in their daily interactions and in doing so help to build their legacy in a step-by-step way.

Writing the blog reminded me of a story I read about Alfred Nobel and how a mistake changed the destiny of his life. The tale shows clearly how mistakes can have very positive outcomes, if we are prepared to look for the teachings they provide.

Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden in 1833 and was a chemist, engineer, innovator and armaments manufacturer. He was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century. In 1867 he patented his new explosive “dynamite.” By 1880 he was head of one of the largest dynamite producing cartels in the world.

And then one day a simple mistake changed his life forever. In 1888, the death of his brother Ludvig caused several newspapers to publish obituaries of Alfred in error. A French obituary stated “Le marchand de la mort est mort” (“The merchant of death is dead”).  Due to this error, Alfred got the opportunity to do what lots of people would like to do. He was able to read his own obituary and saw what people had made of his life. But he read phrases like “merchant of death” and “that his fortune was amassed finding new ways to mutilate and kill.”

As Nobel held the newspaper in his hands, he vowed that this wasn’t how he should be remembered, and he decided that, from that very day, his life wouldn’t just be successful but significant. He began using his vast wealth to encourage the arts, science and above all peace. This was the origin of the Nobel peace prize.

Few who have watched people collect the Nobel Peace prize, as Nelson Mandella did in 1995, will realise that the event was due to the error of journalists. Their simple mistakes changed another man’s life forever and in doing so changed many other people’s lives too.

It’s possible for people to be very self-critical for a long period of time about their mistakes and fail to forgive themselves. Mistakes are part of life and inevitable. As the poet Alexander Pope so accurately said “To err is human; to forgive divine.”

Many people that I’ve coached over the years have been very hard on themselves and needed some help to let go of mistakes they were holding onto. It’s easy to fall into this trap of repeating these incidents in our minds, to focus on what has gone wrong and didn’t work out the way we planned. As opposed to focusing on what’s right and is going well.  This can mean that we limit what we achieve in life.

As shown in Nobel’s story not all mistakes are bad and learning how to use them to your advantage is a positive personal habit to develop. When we make mistakes it’s an opportunity to learn and deepen our knowledge. Such situations can help us discover hidden depths in ourselves.

Mistakes give us the chance to figure out what we really like and value in life. They also help us clarify what’s important to us. Although they can be painful and lead to a difficult period to navigate, they can help us to grow. A great habit to get into following a mistake is to ask yourself “What is this teaching me?”

It’s also important to remember that our mistakes don’t define us as a person as they are just a snapshot of our life. We’re much more than our challenges or past mistakes. Sadly, some people don’t achieve all that they could in life because they procrastinate and become paralysed by a fear of making a mistake or experiencing failure.

Thomas Edison didn’t see his 10,000 attempts to invent the light bulb as failures. He saw them as discoveries of ways that didn’t work and moved him closer to a solution.

I often say to clients when they are contemplating change and a new approach that there is no failure only feedback, to not fear mistakes and to go for it.

This week, why not pause for a few moments to reflect and consider what mistakes made by you or others, you need to let go and forgive. Also, think about what these mistakes have taught you.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk