What If This Is the Reason We Make Mistakes?

I’m sure you’re an awesome driver and never make mistakes. Other drivers are lucky to have you in their midst!

And I’m sure you’ve never forgotten an appointment or mixed up the times or dates of a meeting. You’ve never made someone else wait for you.

And you’ve never said anything hurtful or insisted you were right when it didn’t really matter.

Or . . . maybe you’re like me and you do make mistakes. And maybe you beat yourself up and feel bad.

Or maybe, instead, you use it as a reminder that we’re all human, including yourself. And that the next time someone else messes up, you remember your own past blunders, and you’re able to find some compassion and understanding.

I’ll be honest – this is hard for me. I have high expectations of myself and others. I can be impatient when I have to repeat myself because my husband didn’t hear me or understand, until it’s my turn to ask what he said.

I can be frustrated when my husband forgets to take out the garbage when he just said he would do it, until I forget to do something for him.

The older I get, the more I realize that we’re all imperfect humans who are doing our best (most of the time), but still fall short. It’s been over eight years since I took my certification course in Positive Psychology with Tal Ben-Shahar. But I’ll never forget his message that we need to give ourselves and others permission to be human.

Be on the lookout this week and notice opportunities to give yourself and others grace when you or they mess up.

To browse past positivity tips, visit this page.

Tina Hallis, Ph.D., is a professional speaker and founder of The Positive Edge, a company dedicated to helping individuals and organizations increase their positivity to improve the quality of people’s work lives and the quality of company cultures.