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Episode 487 – Make mistakes of ambition

• Hi friends
• If you recall, in my older episodes, I used to start each episode with a quote
• Not sure what happened with this routine but today we are picking it back up because I have a great quote for you:
•  

Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer. – Niccolò Machiavelli

• What a powerful quote
• Worthy of an entire episode
• Because we all make mistakes
• But the question Machiavelli is asking us here is – which kind of mistakes are you making?
  • Are you making a mistake of overestimating consumer demand when you launch your new product?
  • Did you make an error in your calculations on how much money you will need to take some time off and work on your book?
  • Did you misjudge the experience you needed to qualify for the event you signed up for?
  • Did you misinterpret the other persons signs of friendliness when you gathered up the courage to invite them for coffee?
• You went for something
• You tried
• But you made a mistake
• It was a mistake of ambition
  • Of trying something that didn’t work
• Those kinds of mistakes feel defeating
• You put in so much effort, had a hope, lots of hope
• And then – nothing
• For some people – mistakes of ambition are crushing
• They cant get themselves back up they stay in the hole of failure – for years
• Unable to recover
• While others feel only more fueled
• They get right back up and try again
• They have tons of ideas and they will try another one
•  
• Mistakes of sloth are different
• They are the mistakes of carelessness
  • Like getting a speeding ticket
• They are the mistakes we make repeatedly
  • Because we are not taking responsibility for them the first time
• These are the mistakes that happen because we didn’t try harder
  • Because we sat back and watched
  • Because we didn’t take initiative
  •  
• We all make these mistakes
• But oftentimes – the mistakes of sloth go by unnoticed
• • When we allow people in our life even though they have hurt us before instead of setting boundaries
  • When we don’t go for an opportunity because we are afraid of the risk involved
  • When we don’t speak up to say what we really want to say
  • When we eat the pint of ice cream yet again at night instead of preparing a healthy meal

• We don’t realize the mistake until much later
• In the moment, those repeated little errors give us reassurance
• Because they keep us in our comfort zone
• Nothing happens
• We stay with the same
• We get what we need
• We are good
• Mistakes of comfort catch up with us though
  • After some time we realize – wow
  • Maybe eating ice cream for dinner every night wasn’t so good for the waistline
  • Maybe speaking up would have helped prevent that bigger issue we are dealing with now
  • The opportunity we had years ago and didn’t take would have changed our life in a major way
  • The relationship with the person we allowed to hurt us has finally ended – and it could have ended years ago and saved us so much time.
• Mistakes of sloth go unnoticed to us because we say yes to the same old and no to taking a risk
• Mistakes of sloth keep us comfortable in the short term
• But in the long term they make us suffer
  • The shot we didn’t take turns into regret
  • And regret is suffering

• Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer. – Niccolò Machiavelli
• How can we develop this strength?
• I think Machiavelli tells us clearly:
• When we stay with our same old routines that don’t get us anywhere, we might be comfortable now, but we will suffer later
• So the tradeoff to develop the strength is to say yes more often to risk
• Make mistakes of action
• By trying
• By going for it,
• By saying yes to opportunities
• And no to things you know are wrong
• Make a plan
• A bold one
• And the gather up the courage to go for it
• And know that even if you fail, you will learn something
• That’s the power of mistakes of ambition
• They teach
• While mistakes of sloth keep us in the same place
• Comfortable
• But without learning anything

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• What would be bold and ambitious for you?
• Is there an opportunity in your life that is just waiting for you to say yes and give it a shot?
• Or is there a situation in your life that needs your NO?
  • Something you know needs to end
• Both require courage
•  
• This would be a good morning journaling exercise we all can do more frequently:
  • Writing down at least three things down that we would consider bold and ambitious.
• and then thinking about each for a few moments and starting with one
• here is the thing:
• the bolder the things we do, no matter how small they seem – they help us develop the strength for bigger ambitions
• but we have to start somewhere
• start today
• make one less mistake of sloth and turn it into a potential mistake of ambition
• I have found, that once I go for something and take the risk, I make far fewer mistakes than I fret about prior
• Because usually I underestimate my abilities and those of the wonderful people around me
• Ambition quite often gets rewarded
• So don’t sit back any longer
• Go for it
• Today

Much love.