Mistakes I’ve made…

I’ve blogged a bit recently about the Seahawks, about wins and losses, and about my hopes for the new year. All of this comes with some contemplation about mistakes I’ve made in the past, both in business and in my personal life. So as I look back over the recent months and years, and before I turn my focus totally toward what is ahead of me, I thought I’d share with you what I consider three of the bigger mistakes I’ve made not only in business but in life in general.

My first big mistake is one I’ve vowed to overcome by learning from the Seahawks, and that one is giving up too easily. In the past I have given up before I have truly been defeated. That one really bugs me, and I am hereby vowing to remember the following:

• Every attempt at something is a way to learn how to do it better next time
• It takes many attempts to achieve one success
• The most meaningful things are not easy to achieve
• I don’t know how meaningful my success might be until I actually accomplish
• I may be failing because I haven’t tried the right thing yet
• Tenacity matters more than talent
• My past does not determine my future

My second big mistake on this list is spreading myself too thin. I have allowed myself to be influenced by a culture that values busyness over enjoyment and by people that place productivity over relationships.  I know individuals who pride themselves on how little sleep they get in their pursuit of busyness, and I bet you do, too. But I am no longer going to allow those people and those attitudes to influence me, and I am hereby vowing to remember the following:

• Overcommitting myself causes stress overload, and stress overload can cause lack of sleep, fatigue, poor eating habits, mood swings, forgetfulness, and even illness
• Stress overload can lead to a breakdown, and any breakdown takes away my freedom of choice
• My to-do list is incomplete without down time, without me time, without time for the little things as well as time for others
• It is okay – in fact it is better than okay – to just say “no” to anything that overcommits me in an unhealthy way

And my third big mistake (at least on this list) is being afraid, of giving in to fears real and imagined, fears both big and small. I am not a courageous person by nature, but I want to live life with some form of bravery and daring. To do that, I need to overcome the fears that hold me back, so I am hereby vowing to remember the following:

• Most things that frighten me aren’t real, they are imagined, and the fact that they live only in my imagination means they are not true
• I don’t want my life to be governed by things that are not true
• When afraid, it is most often better to do something  than to do nothing at all
• Setting small goals or taking small steps is an easy way to start to overcome my fears
• I have a choice about how I react in any given situation
• I can always choose to focus on the positive

That’s it. Those are the things I am vowing to remember in the days and weeks and even years to come. What about you? What’s holding you back, and what do you vow to do about it?