I hate making mistakes. I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the silver chest, but I see myself as someone who cares so much and works so hard that errors don't have a chance to slip by me.
Until they do.
I had a slip-up/snafu/should-have-caught-that-darn-it issue arise this morning. And after I finished kicking myself, I remembered what a colleague said to me many years ago.
As he and I waited for the elevator to head home, he took one look at my sad face (I am a lousy poker player) and asked me what was troubling me. I told him I was angry at myself for a mistake I'd made that day.
He replied, "The only people who don't make mistakes are people who never do anything."
I'm still not brave enough or mature enough or evolved enough to see failures as paths to growth. But I am proud that I'm out there swinging.