Life Is Messy
Clean It Up

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Published by Rachelle Disbennett-Lee
Thursday, December 20, 2001
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It would be nice if life was neat and orderly. Well, it isn't. Life is messy. We weren't born with an operator's manual. We are living life for the first time. We learn as we go. Learning is a process by which we get better as we go. We learn by doing and making mistakes. We will say and do the wrong things. We will not be as graceful, sophisticated or as smart as we wish we could be. Not to worry, practice makes us better. Life is simply one big practice.

Mistakes are going to happen. When they do, clean them up. If you say something that hurts someone's feelings, apologize. If you do something that creates a problem, fix it. Be willing to step up and take responsibility for your actions. The best way to learn is by doing. Cleaning up a mistake and learning to take responsibility is one of the best lessons in life. It prepares us to move forward and get better the next time.

The only time we fail is when we fail to learn. When we learn from our mistakes, we are creating greater possibilities for the future. Mistakes simply help us figure out what will not work. We can then take that knowledge and figure out a better way to do what it is we want to do. Mistakes are life's way of telling us to try again.

Coaching

Mistakes are not the worst thing that can happen; not learning from them is. If we take every mistake and learn from them, we will succeed beyond our wildest dreams. Life is one big practice. Life is happening to us for the first time. There is no way we can know exactly what to do. We are simply trying to figure it out as we go. Because we are learning as we go, life can get messy. That is all right. Life is messy. Learn to clean it up. Learn to practice saying, "I made a mistake." Take responsibility for your actions. Take responsibility for your learning.

What mess did you make today? How will you clean it up?

Daily Success Quote

Life + Learning + Mistakes = Messy Possibilities

Quotes

"He who never made a mistake never made a discovery." Samuel Smiles

"Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you somebody who has never achieved much." Joan Collins

"After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life." Sophia Loren

"Anyone who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough." Wess Roberts