Five Steps to Overcome Screwing Up

I have devoted an enormous amount of time and effort (mostly time) to learning. What on earth went wrong?!?

I think I am a learning addict. I could sit for hours on end and watch people tell me how to become the next millionaire, scuba instructor, mountain climber, business owner, basket weaver, chef.... I can watch it on TV, at a seminar, in my office or even at the drive-thru.

I guess I just like to be told that I already have the power inside to do things. (Lots of things apparently.)

In reality, a person can do pretty much anything. Our limitations are mostly hampered by what we decide we want (or believe we are able) to do.

Here are five steps I have used that have picked me up off the sofa and started me on my way.

Discern, Decide, Act, Measure and repeat. (I guess it's only four steps.)

Discern: First you have to know what it is you are looking to accomplish. Identify your objective. Before I started my career in real estate I had no clue which business field I wanted to pursue. I looked into returning to college to get a masters degree. I investigated retail sales. I looked into franchise opportunities.

I placed all these opportunities out in front of me and gave them all a fair try. I weighed the advantages and disadvantages. I discussed them with my family and friends. I gave myself a deadline to make a decision. (It is a critical piece in the process to have a time frame in which to get this all accomplished.)

Decide: From the pile of options, select the one that seems to have the greatest potential. The good part is that It doesn't matter if it is the right one or not. (The mistakes take care of themselves in this process.) I grabbed the one that seemed best and told some people about my decision. "Hey dad, I'm going to get involved in real estate!"

Another bonus, it doesn't matter if the people you tell like your decision or not. (It's always nice to have support, but it's not essential.) The goal here is that I've just made it apparent to others that I am making some decisions. (Congratulations!)

Now I've created an expectation and invited some watchful eyes to see that I am actually doing something.

Act: Nothing else to do now except something. DO SOMETHING! The great part about this step is that you only need to do one thing. You don't have to achieve your goal in this step, just do something.

My goal was still amorphous at this time. All that I had decided on was to have a career associated with real estate. All I had to ask now is "What will get me one step closer to that?" Pretty much anything.

I acted by surfing the web for license laws in my state. Boom! Done! I didn't own a 4-plex. I didn't have my license. I wasn't even scheduled to take any courses. I just did some web surfing and I had completed my action goal. And it was so easy.

Measure: This step is as much about celebrating as it is anything else. Through these last steps you just made some big strides away from where you were and have firmly relocated yourself to the place where you are right now. This step is all about letting you know where, exactly, you have relocated yourself to.

What direction did those choices and research take me? Am I closer to my goal?

Even if you're not, you can still give yourself a big pat on the back because it's likely that you just did more in these last three steps to improve your personal situation than you have done in the last 3 years. (Good for you!)

Discern: You've moved through one full cycle of the process towards accomplishing a new goal. This time the discerning step is to figure out if this is the right direction or if you would prefer to go back to that original pile of ideas...or take what you've learned and start a new pile. Then move on to the next step.

Do you like where you are in relation to where you were before? Do you still like your goal?

Here's a wrap-up of the entire process from my example:

I discerned my possible options for a career.
I talked with trusted people about my opportunities.
I decided to move towards real estate.
I told some people about my decision.
I checked out license information on the web.
I reviewed my progress thus far and see where I've landed.
I discern again, is this good or bad? Do I like what I've found?
Yes, I do!
I decide a next action.
I take the step.
...and so on.


What I love about this process is that it takes me forward to do things I wouldn't normally do. Partly because it is more of a game to me and partly because I make it a point to tell people about what I'm working on now. (It's amazing how other people keep tabs on my progress.) What's great is that even when I decide to go a new direction I always have confidence in that new path because I've used a system that allows me to try new things without feeling like I've wasted my time or just plain screwed up.