You make them. I make them. Everyone makes them.

Mistakes happen everyday and all the time. 

Especially, if you're like me and a young entrepreneur trying to figure out a company and its path - mistakes/failures are numerous.

Coming from an athletic background, the words “failure” and “mistakes” at times weigh heavier on me.

On the tennis court, I failed all the time. I lost a match - failed. I missed a forehand in the net - failed. Double fault - failed.

Playing tennis since I was four, every day at practice I would fail and make hundreds of mistakes. (And that didn’t change with age - well, maybe a little.)

Recently, when filling out an application for an organization, one of the questions was the stereotypical interview question that goes something like this: “Explain a time when you failed or made a mistake and how you overcame it.” 

I imagine everyone has had to answer it at some point. 

 Now, at first I struggled thinking of a time where I failed or made a mistake. And no, it’s not because I don’t have anything to put down as much as I would love that. 

I had plenty of times that came to mind.

But I sat there staring at my screen wondering why I was struggling so much with this question. I would type and delete then type and delete.

With thoughts swirling, I realized the reason I was struggling. These last few years I have changed my thought process on the way I look at making mistakes and failing.

I don’t think anyone intentionally goes out looking to make mistakes or to fail. And the words “mistake” and “failure” automatically have strong, negative connotations to them.

And to me, “failures” and mistakes” are not always interchangeable. Sometimes I can make all the right decisions and still fail at the endeavor.

The thing is - if you don’t make mistakes, if you don’t fail, you never learn, adapt, or change.

Every failure and every mistake runs parallel to a lesson learned.

Actress Priyanka Chopra said, “I think it’s great to be flawed. I am hugely flawed, and I like it this way. That’s the fun of life. You fall, get up, make mistakes, learn from them, be human and be you.”

Failures and mistakes are human nature. There is no other way to personal growth but to live and learn.

Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chair of Alibaba once said in an interview, “Make enough mistakes. Don’t worry. Any mistake is an income, it’s a wonderful revenue for you.”

The point isn’t about mistakes being bad. It’s about mistakes being an invaluable tool for learning and maturing. 

Especially at younger ages, mistakes are future income to a company and yourself.

I cringe sitting here writing this thinking back on things I think I could have done better or mistakes I made right after graduation.

But I wouldn’t change them. Learning from them and the experience are the best educators.

Failing isn’t fun. Making mistakes isn’t fun. But it is necessary to our growth.

Failure can become our most powerful path to learning if we're willing to choose courage over comfort.https://t.co/JEC5SygKG6

— Brené Brown (@BreneBrown) March 13, 2018

And honestly, mistakes/failing are less about the actual mistake or failure and more about how I react to them. 

More about ownership of my errors and what can come from them. 

In the past few years, I have worked hard on the emotional maturity/intelligence to realize when I have made a mistake and to own up to it. 

“This is especially true of people who rumble with failure. These are people who choose courage over comfort, accountability over blame, and are able to embed key learnings from failures into their lives.” - Brené Brown

Of course, I never try to make mistakes, but the point is they happen and how I react and own them is more important to me than the actual mistake. 

I’m the same way in relationships: work, friends, family, etc. 

I think one of the most courageous traits is the ability to own up to missteps or wrongdoings.

In terms of being in a small family business and involved in other small start ups, mistakes happen all the time. Continuously, I see good come from when mistakes are immediately owned and then together we can come up with a game plan. 

Nothing builds trust more than acknowledging a mistake and figuring out the next step.

“Everybody says, a mistake is the first step of success but the real fact is… correction of mistake is the first step of success.” - Robert Downey Jr.