Happy New Year!

I trust that the New Year, whether 2004 or The Year of the Monkey, is bringing opportunities for extraordinary growth and accomplishment in all the arenas in which you've chosen to play.

I've been “enjoying” the experience of finally doing something about my deteriorating knee – which has prevented some exercise (definitely not good for me) and some fun (this is my first “ski free” winter in sixteen years). More about my learnings from this experience later in this e Zine.

Over twenty years ago Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”, a great book with a great title! Along those same lines, in this months issue I'll share my perspective on mistakes – personal and professional – and what we do with them.

We'll also share some favorite quotes and other great ideas so read on and enjoy!

Be extraordinary!

Robert

A Balance Point monthly eZine dedicated to assisting people in living extraordinary lives and creating extraordinary organizations.

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In this issue:

• Feature : “YES” and “NO”

• Extraordinary Wisdom Quotes of the Month

• Could an Balance Point Outcomes Program make a positive difference for your company?

• Rave Recommendations from Balance Point

• Extraordinary Living Action Steps

How to avoid mistakes while cutting on Robert's leg

Yes, my pre-operative nurse Ann was attractive, intelligent, articulate and obviously committed to doing a great job at preparing me for my recent surgery. No, I was not especially enjoying the ride – this was not my idea of a great activity at 6:30 AM on a cold Colorado morning.

I had trouble skiing last season and since then, my ability to run and especially to climb stairs had steadily eroded … a by-product of my misspent youth and some age related deterioration. It was time to stop procrastinating and get it fixed. I was prepared, ready, committed and “in action.”

Then I noticed that Ann was writing on my legs – both of them – with very bright fluorescent purple ink. When she wished me well and then left, I pulled aside the sheet and there on my right leg (location of the “good knee”) was the large word “NO”.

One the left knee (the “bad knee”) was clearly written “YES”.

I laugh a lot when I'm nervous and afraid so I laughed. Then I started to think and this was my conclusion: “They would only do this in response to a prior problem where they mistakenly operated on someone's good knee!”

This was not confidence building for your humble scribe.

Then I thought some more and came to a grudging acceptance that, compared to the alternative of taking a chance that they'd screw up with the only good knee I had, I'd prefer they write notes of guidance and warning to themselves even if the writing surface was...ME.

And then …. since I obviously had nothing else to do, I thought about the meeting they must have had following some kind of mistake – either at that surgical facility or a similar one – where someone owned up to operating on the wrong leg. There were probably some uncomfortable silences and then someone asked “how can we make certain this doesn't happen again?”

What followed was probably some brainstorming and then the brilliant idea, “I know, let's write ‘yes' or ‘no' on the appropriate legs in pre-op!”

What I like to imagine NOT happening was a lot of conversation blaming others or themselves for the original mistake – just a simple “I/we did it and don't want it to happen again.” Hopefully there also was little hand-wringing and projecting what the consequences might be and all those other go-nowhere conversations.

While being wheeled into the operating room (colder than being on Aspen Mountain at 9 AM in January), it occurred to me that learning to recover from a mistake is a key life attitude and skill set. After all, we all make mistakes and if we're “up to something in life,” especially something extraordinary, we're probably taking some risks and making a lot of mistakes.

Mistakes are, ultimately, the richest possible environment for valuable personal and professional learning and growth. The key to gaining value from them is in how we frame our “next steps”, and I'll make some specific suggestions in our Extraordinary Living Action Steps...

so read on...

Our theme this month is “mistakes” so here are a few of my favorite quotes on that subject.

Whether or not your view of the cosmos includes the presence of God … or not … I recommend you check out

“The Interview with God”

(You can substitute “teacher” or “a parent” or ??? if you're uncomfortable with “God.”)

The teaching is simple and profound, the music pleasant and the landscapes spectacularly beautiful. It's a great use of technology to give us the opportunity for a moment of reflection. Just click here or copy and paste into your browser.

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/

Enjoy!!!

Mistakes!

Welcome and even embrace your mistakes – they're an indication you're alive and cookin'.

Learn something from the experience. Use a trusted outside source – your mastermind group or significant other or a dear friend – to examine what really happened and to assist you in identifying the lessons and value to you.

WRITE IT DOWN. Write what you learned and even share it with those in your life who will help hold you to new, more effective future choices and behaviors. (editor's note: include Robert White in this?)

Finally, if you've read this far, you've probably made some mistakes and want to be more effective “post event.” If so, and if some vicarious learning from some of my mistakes might be valuable to you, just e mail me with the word “mistakes” in the subject line and I'll send you what I wrote down after making some serious and expensive mistakes with my company. Some of it might be so unique to me that it is not useful – I'm fairly certain some will be valuable to anyone.

Second finally … and with apologies for not being able to find the original of this story I heard years ago in a film by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (author of The Power of Positive Thinking).

He related how a parishioner had come to him complaining of problems, “so many problems.” Dr. Peale asked him if he'd like to meet a large group of people who had no problems. They got in a car and proceeded to a huge cemetery where Dr. Peale proclaimed, “there they are, thousands of people with no problems and actually the ONLY people without problems.”

It seems to me that the story applies to mistakes also. If you're alive, you're going to make mistakes...so celebrate and learn from them!

Wishing you an Extraordinary Life and Extraordinary Organizations,

Robert

Robert White
Balance Point

P. O. Box 40405
Denver , CO 80204
Phone: 1-425-803-0303
E-mail: Robert@BalancePointInternational.com

http://www.BalancePointInternational.com

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