You a loser ... or a learner?

One of my coachees realized she let an opportunity pass her by because she waited far too long to take action - action I suggested she take months ago.

When she realized she completely blew it, she wrote me her heartfelt confession - that it got past her because she didn't move when the fire was hot as I encouraged her to do.

She noted in her email several times, "I'm such a loser! I'm a LOSER!"

I responded: "You are NOT. NOT NOT NOT a loser! You are a LEARNER."

She's currently taking advantage of a potential opportunity that's hot right now - which means she's learned from her previous procrastination.

And of course a huge lesson learned is that I tend to be .. right.. ;-)

Making mistakes is part of life; learning from them is its own reward, but it also carries with it the awareness of more opportunities than you were aware of.

Nothing wrong with temporarily feeling like a loser when we make mistakes.

But facing up to the mistake, not attempting to cover up the error or its consequences or trying to convince others your mistake was the "right" thing to do - and learning from it empowers us!

Learning from mistakes means understanding we have other choices; then we need to take the additional step of understanding what those other choices are so we can make amends and make the next choice healthy, positive and constructive.

Learners are winners!