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Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good. Bertolt Brecht

No one can go through life without stumbling or falling down. Mistakes are but a stumble in judgment and must be viewed as glitches that have to be set right. Very often, when we stumble or slip and fall down, we get up looking around with a foolish grin, to see if anybody noticed us fall and we try to make light of the incident. Alas, when we make mistakes we are often beset by the fact that they are pointed out to us by someone else, usually a person in authority, who will then proceed to chasten you and then rave and rant about your inefficiency and casualness.

While the superiors retain the prerogative of pointing out our mistakes, apportioning blame and suggesting corrective action, you must correct the same if you are responsible for it or have the ability to rectify it. Prudence demands that we have the heart to accept a mistake, feel remorse for it and then have the courage of conviction to burn the midnight oil and be able to rectify the error. Quick corrective action has two advantages; the mistake is rectified and the damage minimized and it also limits your own feeling of guilt and remorse, thereby enabling you to chanelize your energies into more productive tasks.

What if you are not responsible for the mistake and yet you are caught in the crossfire? Your feelings will range from dismay to annoyance and then move on to defiance and aggression. If you persist with these feelings, there is a remote possibility that  you may win the battle, but there is every possibility that you will lose the war. The best way forward, therefore,  is to do your best to correct the mistake. Once that is done, perhaps others will see your point of view; some might even feel guilty enough to own up. Thereafter, if things go on smoothly, who knows, you might even become a hero for initiating the corrective measures.

There are times when a mistake cannot be rectified. In such cases, the only possibility is damage control and salvaging what ever is possible. These are short term, possibly face saving remedies. The real learning comes from analyzing the causes for the mistake and focusing on putting in place a system that can flag of anomalies, trigger alarms to alert those in charge of the system and in extreme cases have a self correcting solution like shutting of the entire system like an automatic aborting of a space missionwhen the computer detects an anomaly or flaw. Intelligence is therefore not just new creation, fresh perspectives and thoughts and / or leveraging of brilliance for wealth creation, but it includes putting in place checks and balances to minimize mistakes,  shock absorbers to cushion the impact of mistakes and alternatives to salvage and rectify mistakes in the quickest possible time.

Remember: Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.” -Swami Sivananda

Try these:

  1. What are the mistakes that you still regret? Do you think you can do anything to minimize your regret or let bygones be bygones? Do you think that you need to say sorry and or apologize to someone for a mistake that you did but refused to take blame for or your ego did not permit you to say sorry?
  2. Do you still hold a grudge that you were unfairly blamed for a mistake that you did not commit? Are you harboring ill feelings and feelings of revenge for those responsible for putting you in a spot? Can you forgive all those who knowingly or unknowingly have accused you of mistakes and tarnished your name / image? (See the post here on Forgiveness dated 4th Jan 2010)

This post is courtesy www.actspot.com 

You are also invited to visit our weekly Inspirational and Motivational Blog   www.poweract.blogspot.com 

Bobby Jacob

Bobby Jacob

‘ He hopes to have a positive influence on his readers through his blog posts’

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