I lead a resume class last night and it was terrific. So full of energy, great questions and a lot of “A-ha” moments! I love those kinds of classes. One thing that came up when we were talking about doing something different or branching out into what you would love to do rather than what you have always done: a young lady said, “I don’t want to make a mistake.”
And I answered her, “Why not? Who cares!” If you are pursuing a passion then there are no mistakes, only opportunities. When I first started I could easily say that I made plenty of mistakes (not on resumes of course!) but really, I had a lot of good lessons. Each “mistake” was a lesson for me. Good or bad it was great experience. It is all about the attitude.
My best friend told me the other day about a young lady who is absolutely incredible. I am giving a very brief synopsis of this story so forgive the vagueness. At age 13 (I believe it was 13, or 15) she was in a car accident and became a paraplegic. Can you imagine how difficult that must have been on a teenage girl? Then she became a world-renown hand cyclist. Her attitude was if you don’t like it change it, if you don’t want to change it quit complaining! Pretty strong stuff from a young woman. She was then in two more car accidents. The last one was when she was about 26 and from that accident she regained feeling in her legs and is now walking.
She could have very easily, and rightfully, become very negative person after the first accident. But she didn’t she moved forward and excelled. In my mind she looked at hand cycling and said, “Why not!” After the second accident she again, could have become negative, but she didn’t. And after the third – well, her blessing was she was able to walk again.
The weekend is coming upon us, take some time to yourself and ask yourself, “Why not?” Why not go after something you really want, why not learn something new, why not put yourself out on a limb? If the answer is “I might fail” then I will tell you that yes, you MIGHT fail, but you definitely will if you don’t even try.