Mistakes can be looked upon in two ways. First, they can be looked at with negativity and disgust. They can be seen as stupid errors in judgment and failed attempts at triumph. Mistakes can also be looked upon as teachers, guides, and tutors for the future. Mistakes do not have to be brandings of shame and disgust; they can be looked upon optimistically as another chance at triumph.

If you are alive, you have two choices; you can sink in sadness over the mistake or you can rise up and rejoice that you lived through it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying to yourself and others, “Wow, I really flubbed up!”

Mistakes are proof that you are taking risks and not just sitting around waiting for the world to bring you something. Mistakes mean that you had a plan of some measure and you were working toward it. Yes, you may have fallen short, but at least you were doing something.

The True Cost of Mistakes

Think of the last time that you made a major mistake. Was it personal, professional, financial, educational, spiritual, health related? What was the cost of this mistake? What was the price (real or symbolic) that you paid for this mistake? What lessons did you learn?

Sometimes the costs are astronomical and involve real money. Sometimes the costs are not in dollars, but in pain, agony, suffering, and defeat. The cost of a mistake is easier to bear when you understand the lessons that come from it.

The Case of Rene

Rene thought his life was over. He had made the biggest mistake of his thirty years; he cheated on his wife. Looking back, he can scarcely even remember why it happened, but the mistake cost him dearly.

He now pays over $500 per month in alimony, is divorced, lives in a much smaller home due to finances, and most importantly, lost his soul mate. Not only did he lose his soul mate, he lost most of the friends that they had in common. He can't go to certain places for fear of running into them and having to face the shame. His loneliness is monumental and the pain of what he did to another human being, a human being that he loved, is fierce.

You may be asking, what good could come out of this mess? That mistake cost him his wife, his home, his livelihood, his dignity, his friends, and his way of life. What else could he lose because of this mistake? He's finished.

Not quite. This mistake changed his life. It changed the core of who Rene is as a person. This one catastrophic event in his history made a profound change in the way Rene looks at life, people, money, commitment, relationships, love, and endurance.

The real cost of a mistake is not making the error, but failing to learn and grow from it.