"Just don't make any mistakes!" Do you know the feeling that this sentence triggers? "Just don't do anything wrong!" or "Heaven forbid if that happens again" or "You didn't manage that again" are sentences that can not only cause discomfort and unease in a person but even fear. Self-confidence shrinks to zero while the heart rate rises. Already in school, we are shaped by such statements, guided by the frightening focus on failure. Just don't make any mistakes – this leads to us being internally driven, but based on a negative foundation, as it feeds the primal emotion of fear. Those who live in a fear-stress ratio every day or more often in their week will have to realize that this not only eventually causes diseases and mental impairments but also greatly limits performance and productivity. People are so driven to avoid mistakes that they don't even notice how important and valuable mistakes are in life.
A Look at Mistakes
Take a close look at the word: MISTAKE. Take the letters apart, you can write them on individual small pieces of paper: M-I-S-T-A-K-E. Now, if you mix up the existing letters and rearrange them, what completely new term emerges? You can create a so-called anagram: A new word is formed by rearranging a known sequence of letters. What did you come up with? In the term MISTAKE, the word HELPER is hidden. How does that affect you? What does it trigger in you? A mistake can help you in something, it can in a way lend you a hand. When you gain this new perspective on your mistakes, you can develop a changed joy in doing – after all, nothing can happen to you now. If you make a mistake, it is good for gaining insight. You can take a somewhat distant position instead of constantly revolving around your mistake and driving yourself crazy. Whether you have made a mistake, experienced a failure, revealed a deficiency, made an oversight, allowed a slip-up, gotten entangled in a contradiction, or committed a violation: you can leave your mistake as it is, take a step to the side, and openly ask yourself: What did I do well up to that mistake? What worked up to this point? Focus on the path up to the point of the mistake, as until then, many things have been successful. And that has more weight and relevance than the mistake itself.
Self-Efficacy Beliefs – Ever Heard of It?
Stay true to yourself in what you do! Self-efficacy beliefs revolve around an individual's conviction that they can successfully overcome difficult situations and challenges on their own. The term was coined by the American psychologist Albert Bandura (cf. Satow n.d.). Bandura's central insight is: People usually only start an action when they are convinced they can successfully carry it out. This self-efficacy belief depends significantly on four factors – think about them yourself: 1. Past experiences – were they positive? 2. Observing other people – how do others do it? 3. Verbal persuasion, such as positive self-talk like "I can do this" or "I will succeed!" 4. Emotional state of mind, being positively inclined towards something – believe in yourself! This self-efficacy belief is one of the most important approaches to endure situations. Check this for yourself in the future! This leads to joy in success, and that is exactly the reverse process of what was experienced before – namely, fear of failure. Those who have experienced joy in success come to a different inner attitude: they seek challenges and are willing to exert more effort to overcome them. All the best for that!