We make a lot of mistakes in life and some of them hurt more than others. Some are embarrassing and others downright demoralizing.

Mistakes have two things in common. They have consequences and they have growth potential.

The consequences are the easier of the two to grasp. The price you have to pay is easy to compute – never before, but always after making the mistake. There is a specific comeuppance – a sore thumb from a hammer, a car that won’t run on lemonade, a term in prison, or a hospital stay after texting while driving, to name a few.

The growth potential is harder to spot because of the patterned nature of mistakes. We seem to make the same ones over and over. There is no time for growth because we’re too busy replicating our errors.

We can find the silver lining in a mistake by learning something from it. According to spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, “If you learn something from a mistake, it’s no longer a mistake.” I remember reading those words about 5 years ago and asking myself this: “If it’s no longer a mistake, what is it?”

The answer I received was “Springboard.”

The learning goes well past the consequence. It can be a launching pad for new discoveries.

Mistakes can be something to brood about forever or they can be teachers. It’s really up to us.

What lesson does your mistake want you to learn? Every time you make a mistake, you’re presented with a springboard to learning. Every mistake is an opportunity to grow.

The main thing that keeps us from springing upward is our inability to own our errors. We get so mired in the deflection or cover-up that we miss seeing the opportunity. So we pay a double fine – the normal consequences of the mistake and the missing of an opportunity.

We’ll never stop making mistakes. We’re human.

Not acknowledging our mistakes is hubris; not using them as a springboard is a mistake.

All the best,

John