December 2, 2008OTL – The four big mistakes I made this year
From our newsletter Outside the Lines
Four big mistakes
I’m all for celebrating successes, for relishing what’s working, for gargling the fine wine of glorious triumph.
And don’t let me stop you frolicking in the Yes’s. (In fact, I’d encourage you to do it even more than you’re doing now.)
But there’s wisdom in the No’s, in the “whoops”, in the “drats … I fell for that again” as well.
Here are four mistakes that I’ve made this year … and what I’ve been learning along the way.
- 1. Forgetting about how good home is
I travelled a lot this year. And much of it was spectacular: the Amalfi Coast in Italy, surfing on Bondi Beach in Australia, drinking Pilsner in Prague, driving through thunderstorms in Texas …
And I got homesick for Toronto, and more specifically my wife, my friends, my pets, the comfort of my apartment, the familiarity of my routines.
I’m spending more time in 2009 planning on hanging out at home.
=> What (or who) is fantastic at home for you? How could you express full appreciation?
- 2. Making up stories of why not
Time and time again, my courage has failed me.
And this is what happens.
I want to do something bold. And then immediately, like an old fashioned ticker-tape, I get a steady streaming message of reasons why I shouldn’t, why there are other easier things to do, why it wouldn’t work anyway.
And when I’ve wimped out and not done it … nothing bad happened and nothing spectacular did either.
And when I summoned my courage, took a breath and stepped into the unknown and made the bold request … sometimes nothing happened and sometimes, fantastically, something did.
=> What’s the story you’ve got going on about what you can’t do?
- 3. Hiring too fast and too slowly
As Box of Crayons has expanded its impact this year, I’ve been hiring support people to play various roles and to allow me to focus on my own Great Work. (I’m constantly tempted by the seductive comfort of Good Work too … they say you teach what you need to learn.)
Moving into 2009, I have a team that’s extraordinary. Everyone of them – Ernest my coach, Kathryn and Charlotte my web team, Ana my graphic design guru, Ron, Jill and Sue my Great Work support team, Carrie my admin assistant, Robert my movie guy – every one of them are able to deliver right on brief and at the same time go above and beyond what’s asked.
And it’s taken me time to get that right.
I’ve hired people when I wasn’t clear in my own mind why. I’ve hired people to solve the wrong problem, I’ve kept people for too long who were only OK…
I’ve got it wrong a lot before I started getting fussy, getting clear and getting it right.
=> Who are you over-investing in? Who do you need to celebrate because they’re fantastic?
- 4. Stopping breathing
Busy! This year’s been crazy-busy.
I like to think that I’m not one to think that busy is some sort of perverse badge of honour, some mark of “look how important I am, I’ve barely got time to blow my nose.”
Except, I get seduced by that story of Busy = Important too.
And as I’ve rushed here and there, worked on weekends, stretched myself thin, I’ve noticed this: The faster I run, the less I breathe.
When I remember to take a breath, when I stop thinking this is All Very Very Important, things get a little calmer, a little less stressful, a little easier.
=> What have you promoted to Extremely Important? How much value do you place in being Busy?
Don’t take my word for it
Smart people thinking out loud about learning from mistakes.
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”
-Oscar Wilde, Irish writer
“Making mistakes is a lot better than not doing anything.”
-Billie Joe Armstrong, American musician
Read more quotations on making mistakes here.
