Make More Mistakes (Part 1)
Let's decide to embrace mistakes.
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When we try new things, we're not good at them. And if we wait until we're perfect at something before we give it a go, we won't try in the first place, because you can't get good at something without doing it badly time and time again first.
In the relationship world, people often hold back from saying a scary thing or trying a new way of communicating because they don't feel skilled at doing it.
They don't want to make a mistake, so they put it off. And then they put it off. And then they put it off again.
It leaves us in a loop where we never improve our relationship-deepening skills because we never let ourselves make mistakes.
Let's turn this on its head. Instead of avoiding mistakes, let's decide to embrace mistakes.
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What does that mean in practice?
Say something in a way that doesn't feel exactly right, but is in the ballpark
Switch things up: if you normally put off saying things until the last minute, say something sooner; if you normally react quickly to concerns or worries, wait a little longer to say something
Actively point out a time you were wrong about something
Mistakes are the fastest way to learn, so let's embrace imperfection. Embrace the reality that you’re going to mess up, over and over again. When you do that, it can be liberating. Fail forward as often as you can…so you can get the lesson and see better results, more quickly.
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Are you worried mistakes will hurt your relationships? Next week in Part 2, I'll talk about how mistakes can actually improve them.