Don't Waste Your Tuition

Everyone makes mistakes, even leaders. I’ve made more mistakes than I want to admit as a leader. Mistakes can be costly, but nothing is more expensive than not learning from your mistakes. Do not waste the tuition costs of your mistakes.

I've seen people from all walks of life fail to maximize the tuition their mistakes cost them. Mistakes, missteps, and errors provide us an opportunity to learn. If we fail to realize the teaching point, we will be worse off because we will likely make the same mistake again.

How to Learn From Your Mistakes

Learning from your mistakes isn't always easy and straightforward. Sometimes it can be straightforward, yet other times, the water is a bit murky. The best way to analyze the learning experience is to ask yourself some questions. Here are a few questions that can help you begin your trek down the learning path.

• What happened?

  Ask yourself what really happened? Do you understand the gravity of the situation? Write down on a piece of paper your thoughts and feelings about what happened. Writing these things down will help you clarify your point of view and help separate your emotions from the facts.

• Why did it happen?

  Begin to perform a root-cause analysis of the situation. What factors led to the mistake to occur? Who were the participants? What were their actions? Why did they act?

• What is my responsibility in the matter?

  This is where the real learning takes place. What is your ownership in this problem? How did you contribute to creating the issue? Take ownership is the most difficult thing for most folks to do. Whether we like it or not, most of the time we own a piece of the problems in our lives. Not always, but for most issues, we own a piece. If you can figure out what that piece is, why it's there, you can prevent it in the future.

• What could have prevented this? What should I do in the future?

  Once you've identified the stakeholders in the problem, you can understand what led up to the problem. If you figure out what contributed to the problem or mistake, you'll know what to be aware of in the future.

  This is the real learning point. Answer this question, and you can maximize the tuition of your mistakes. What actions and decisions can you make that will avoid you from repeating the error?

Actions to Take in the Future

• Don't assign blame.

  Blame is defined as the action of assigning responsibility for fault or wrong. It’s an action verb and one you shouldn’t jump right into. Don't blame yourself or anyone else - at least initially. Instead, seek first to fully understand the situation, the events that led up to the mistake, and each person's point of view. There will likely be enough blame to go around. The important part is to find the part you own and learn from it.

• Get resources

  There are great resources out there for you to use. Join an association, subscribe to periodicals and read some books. Do what you can to learn from the mistake and move on. Personal growth is the best outcome you can obtain from a mistake. It’s what your tuition is purchasing. Find resources and people who can help you grow and learn how to apply what your mistake taught you.

Share What You’ve Learned

One of the most important things you can do once you’ve paid your tuition and gained wisdom is to share it with someone else. You can be a blessing in someone else’s life if you prevent them from making the same mistake you did. Save someone else from the expensive tuition of mistakes whenever possible. The world will be a better place if you do.