No shame in admitting you are wrong
How do you feel when you make a mistake or are wrong about something? Entrepreneur Jeremy Liddle believes it’s important to admit when you are wrong and try to correct your actions immediately.
Many people think that committing mistakes is shameful and because of that they never have the courage to move towards their goal. They don’t have the courage to face the setbacks and failures that may come with achieving what they want.
Do not be one of them!
It’s never easy to admit when you are wrong, but it is a crucial step in learning, growing and improving yourself. You can only learn from a mistake after you accept that you’ve made it. Never blame others when you commit a mistake, because you will only end up distancing yourself from a possible lesson. The best way to handle mistakes is to deal with them and be responsible for the consequences. Having this kind of attitude will attract learning.
Nobody likes to admit to being wrong. But why not? There is nothing ‘wrong’ with being wrong! We all make mistakes and you will discover many of mine in my book “From Idea to Start-Up”!
The important thing about being wrong is not so much that you did the wrong thing, as it is about how you handle it. Simply put, people admire, respect, and appreciate someone that can say ‘I was wrong’. What they like even better is someone that can follow that up with why they were wrong and how they can fix the situation.
After you’ve recognised that you were wrong, the next step is to move on by learning to:
· Forgive yourself. We are often harder on ourselves than we would be on others, but remember how we would treat someone who had made the same mistake you did.
· Acknowledge your mistake. This is your chance to go public. Apologise to your boss and colleagues, or anyone affected by your mistake, without blaming others or the universe. Disclose the facts and situation and have a solution ready for the problem.
· Take action. Now that you’ve acknowledged your mistake and taken responsibility for it, get back to work and do whatever it takes to solve the problem. Giving an assurance that it will never happen again will also allow you to move on.
Having the courage to admit and process your mistakes help you discover a deeper self-identity. Learning from mistakes requires three things:
- Subjecting yourself to situations where you can make interesting mistakes
- Being confident to admit your mistake
- Having the courage to address your mistake by making changes
Mistakes aren’t fatal, but not learning from them could be. Passing the blame on down the line serves nobody. Address the issue. Fix it. And move on.
Jeremy Liddle is an entrepreneurial maniac, passionate about inspiring other entrepreneurs to plan and launch successful new businesses, and maximise growth in existing enterprises. He is head of the Australian delegation to the , and has been featured in media such as Channel 7 Sunrise, Channel 7 Kochie’s Business Builders, BRW and The Australian. Jeremy began his business career in the booming Australian juice bar trade. With his brother he opened up Australia’s number one Juice Station outlet, and was sent to Singapore to operate as stand in General Manager for 18 months. Named as one of Australia’s young guns Jeremy Liddle co-founded a natural health company called RioLife in 2004. In 2010, they were featured as one of Australia’s top emerging companies in BRW Magazine, and picked up a Fastest Growing Small Business Award from the My Business Magazine Awards. Jeremy has now authored his first book “From Idea to Start-Up”, designed to teach budding young entrepreneurs how to write a business plan and launch their ideas as a viable enterprise. Jeremy is also involved as founder, director and advisor to a range of new Start-Ups and established businesses.
Glenn Mabbott
August 15, 2012 at 8:58 am
Indeed Jeremy
Managers have
Indeed Jeremy
Managers have for decades been trained to be more efficient, a weasel word for minimising mistakes. But making mistakes is a natural consequence of taking risks, and taking risks is the only way we can drive change and discover new opportunities.
More edge, less smoothing the pointy bits in the management process please Australian business owners.