Opportunities in Mistakes – A Strategic Advantage?

I read that when Thomas Edison was creating the light bulb he actually found over 1800 ways to not build one. I also have read that the discovery of radium was a mistake by Madam Curie. So I guess it begs the question, are we seeking out strategic opportunities from our mistakes or from things that go awry? I don’t particularly enjoy scrutinizing my mistakes and failures. I guess I don’t like revisiting what goes wrong because I feel guilty or that I am punishing myself. But deep down I know that there is a lot that can be learned from our mistakes and failures and often it is a signal that there is a strategic opportunity looming on the horizon. I wonder how many strategic targets I may have missed when I have just moved on from a mistake without carefully scrutinizing what could have been learned, trying a new approach, or recreating how things are done.

As I have carefully thought about it, I have had to coach myself to not let failures and mistakes control me. Instead, I need to take control and understand from the mistake, mold it into something better for the future. I cannot always avoid these situations, making mistakes and such, but I can make them work to my advantage. It takes courage to shape your future and it can be done if you seize each opportunity to think strategically and make them stepping stones to a greater future. We hear that many things in life “can’t be done,” but anything is possible if we but find ways to do what must be done to ensure long-term success, to change life’s can’ts into strategic insights. Learning to look at our mistakes strategically opens up many windows of opportunity.