Mistakes Not Made

We are good at celebrating the positive things we execute, but do we put enough emphasis on effectively avoiding the harmful and destructive? The missteps we manage to prevent don’t seem to get much press. After every touchdown in the NFL, there is inevitably a dance in the end zone. But do you ever see an “I almost threw an interception, but avoided it!” dance? Sometimes, the mistakes avoided make the biggest impact in the outcome of a game. In fact, Lou Holtz, the legendary college football coach, used to tell his players before every game, “You don’t need to make the big plays, just eliminate the stupid ones.”

It’s easy for me to get caught up with all the positive things I could add to my life to be more productive, but sometimes I miss the opportunity to improve myself and my circumstances by simply eliminating the negatives. Marshall Goldsmith explains life as a box you carry around with you. Many successful people are so concerned with cramming as much “good” stuff as possible into the box, they overlook the “bad” things that get in: the poor habits, the time wasters, the negative attitudes, the personality weakness, etc. He points out that we can greatly improve the contents of the box, not just by adding in beneficial items, but by keeping out the detrimental things.

Celebrate the elimination of mistakes!

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