If You Make a Mistake, Make It FULL SPEED

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly; you're doing something.”

                                                                                           - Neil Gaiman

Every four months, I receive a new group of Black Belt Candidates from our martial arts organization to train in preparation for their upcoming Black Belt Testing with me. 

Since most of these candidates are my student’s students, this is the first time many of them have trained with me.  As you might imagine, many of them are quite nervous, not knowing what to expect in their first classes with me. 

This oftentimes causes them to freeze and make errors that they wouldn’t regularly make.  This then causes greater nerves and trepidation which then leads to even larger instances of less than peak performance

It is all rooted in their fear of making a mistake.  This situation invariably leads me to share with them a story from my own history, one that I will never forget.

It is my first Fall football camp as a student/athlete at Northwestern University.  We are in the middle of two-a-day practices and the physical grind of pushing my body through fatigue, injury and soreness is second only to my mental and emotional fatigue.  As a college freshman and first year player, I have not yet adapted to the nuances of Big Ten football and how much more challenging it is than I experienced in high school. 

As an inside linebacker, I am charged with setting the defensive fronts on each play.  What this means is when the offense comes to line of scrimmage, I am charged with instructing my defensive teammates to move into position, based on how the offense has lined up.   As a result, I am not only responsible for what I am to do, but also to put my teammates in position for them to be successful, as well. 

Another play is about to begin, and I am again flustered on what to communicate to my teammates.  The ball is snapped, and I have not only put my teammates out of position, but I have failed to make the tackle because I have once again hesitated as result of over-thinking my assignments and not allowing myself to simply react.

It is then, my linebacker coach, Mike Church, barked some of the most import words which have ever fallen upon my ears, as he yelled is a combination of coaching and frustration,

“Natzke,” he bellowed, “If you’re going to make a mistake, make it full speed!”

I think about this valuable lesson often. 

Coach Church had seen my hesitation and poor performance was rooted in my fear of making a mistake.  When I was eventually able to get out of my own way, I was able to react once again the to play in front of me and play with abandon. 

When I share this story and its message with my martial students, I tell them that if they make a mistake with full enthusiasm and intention, I will always be patient with them.  However, it they make mistakes (even perform something correctly) with half-hearted effort, that is when they will hear from me 😊. 

When we refrain from taking action because of the fear of making a mistake, we deprive ourselves of valuable lessons, experiences and growth.  When we hesitate to take action because of fear of making an error, what we prevent ourselves from is truly living.

I have to admit, there have been numerous instances in my life where I have hesitated or froze from taking action because I was afraid of making a mistake.  Additionally, as a “recovering perfectionist”, I can’t tell you how difficult it was early in my life to accept and forgive myself when I made mistakes. 

However, the reality is that mistakes can be very useful to us in our growth and development. 

Think of a toddler who is just learning to walk and when falling down for the first time, they say to themselves, “Well, I’m not doing that again.  I can’t risk looking foolish like that.” 

That sounds ridiculous, but how many times in our own lives do we essentially the same thing when we avoid our forward progress due to our aversion to making a mistake and possibly looking silly?

Think for a moment of the times you are most proud of, or you learned the most about yourself in your life.  

They probably happened with mistakes being made along the way and then courageously facing consequences of your actions.  You then got up and went for it again, and again and again, if necessary. 

Conversely, where you made mistakes and didn’t get back up to face the challenge, you are probably still haunted by that today.

This week, I challenge all of us to risk making mistakes.  What is one action you can take where you might fail, but know that just attempting will bring you growth and expansion?  Where can you be bold and take steps in the direction you want to go accepting and overcoming mistakes that may occur along the way? 

And if you do make a mistake (or two, or three ……) along the way – MAKE THEM FULL SPEED!

Chris Natzke

Black Belt Leadership Speaking & Coaching

PS:  If you are looking to experience your own breakthrough, download a FREE introductory chapter of my new book, #1 Amazon best-seller, BREAKING THROUGH, by texting “breakthrough” to 720-741-6263.