Time management blogs and articles rarely discuss the idea of making use of mistakes. But wouldn’t it be great to be able to put your mistakes to work for you? That would mean that none of your time was ever ‘wasted.’
It’s a little like thinking of your life as a sustainable farm. Absolutely everything can be used and everything makes its own unique contribution to the good of the whole enterprise.
So, yes, you can glean valuable gifts from your mistakes and come to see that while you may feel a loss about the choice you made (or didn’t make), every loss holds potential gains. It’s all a matter of perspective – of bringing the right energy to the process!
Walt Whitman wrote about this in a brief and powerful poem titled “Sometimes with One I Love.” He was writing about unrequited love, but I think the concept is universal.
Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse unreturn’d love,
But now I think there is no unreturn’d love, the pay is certain one way or another
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return’d,
Yet out of that I have written these songs).
So, what we’re looking at here is time that you now look back upon with regret. Perhaps it’s challenging just to recall these periods of loss in your life, let alone really explore them. But there are gems to be found in these difficult times; these gains may show themselves quickly or after a period of time. So I invite you to consider journeying within to experience and assimilate these 3 fundamental truths:
1. Mistakes Are Okay. Giving yourself the gift of this compassionate perspective will open untold doors for you. That’s because when your heart is open, nothing is lost. You fully embrace your experiences, no matter what they are, knowing that they will open you to new levels of energy and insight.
2. Mistakes Are Simply Lessons Waiting To Befriend You. This is transformational wisdom. You claim it when you accept and embrace your core humanity and reconnect with your eagerness to explore and learn.
3. It Isn’t What Happens, It’s How Your Respond That Shapes Your Path. Whenever you choose to take full responsibility for your life and your choices (no matter what results they bring), you deepen your loyalty to reality and to yourself. You gain enormous resilience when you choose to live this way.
So, the time you feel you’ve ‘lost’ to mistakes or choices you regret isn’t actually gone. It is available and holds wisdom for you. But how to you harvest this crop?
Your Path to Retrieve Lost Time Requires 3 Steps:
1. Reveal your heart. Let your heart open to the lesson. The emptiness and pain you feel may be huge, but by drawing close to the intensity of your experience (rather than backing away) you shift your relationship to that time.
2. Open the door to new insights. Investigate the lessons that come to mind. Ask yourself these questions:
• What do you need to let go of to grow from this experience?
• What new insights can you carry forward on your journey?
3. Wholeheartedly validate all good choices. You have taken a vital step, so be sure to validate it! Give yourself the compassion and encouragement you would extend to a friend. Truly celebrate your life path and allow your appreciation of yourself to grow!
BONUS TIP: When you expand your spirit and embrace your losses and your learning, and whatever feelings accompany your fresh insights, you are essentially recalibrating the relative "size" of things.
Think of it as you standing up and saying, "I am bigger than this mistake. I can deal with it and learn from it!" This is a fundamental act of self-loyalty that enables you to fully claim your power. You refuse to allow loss, disappointment, setbacks, and regrets to overwhelm you.
Consider how much power you give yourself when you know, from your heart right down to your bones, that nothing is lost! So, don't waste another minute. Set aside time right now to begin to find your life lessons, renew your faith in yourself, and reclaim your lost time.
And to move toward your Heart-Based Time Success, sign up for our free gift, the Finding Time Success Kit, which includes "The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!" Using a workbook format this powerful and practical time template helps you progress beyond disappointment and frustration. Discover that 24 hours really are enough!
Offered by Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert.
Paula Eder, PhD is an internationally-known coach and published author who specializes in mentoring heart-based entrepreneurs and small business owners, from the inside out, to align their core values and energy with their time choices and behaviors. This helps them make more money, create more freedom, and find more time.
You can learn more about Paula’s unique, Heart-Based Time Management™ System and begin your transformational journey by signing up for her Finding Time Success Kit. Follow your heart-based path to finding time for what matters most.