Growth Archives - Rocket Station Careers

Make marvelous mistakes at work—it’ll make you better

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March 19, 2021
1:29 pm
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Who hasn’t felt the gut-wrenching feeling of knowing you’ve made a terrible mistake, and soon after, realizing that you’ll get into trouble because of it? In a work set-up everyone will tell you it is all but human to make mistakes, but we have been programmed to believe that making mistakes could get you fired, or accosted for.

At Rocket Station, we believe that providing an environment open to making mistakes is essential in building a community of well-seasoned leaders who are constantly growing.

In fact, learning how to turn mistakes into lessons is a skill that is developed through the years. Public speaker Tod Dewett talks about making Marvelous Mistakes in one of his leadership courses. He isn’t the only person talking about how mistakes can be beneficial in developing people though. In a Ted Talk with Dr. Brian Goldman, entitled: Doctors make mistakes too-can we talk about that? Dr. Goldman explains an emotional account of how the mistakes he made as a doctor and his inability to talk about them caused him to develop intrusive thoughts and self-doubt. It was only when he acknowledged his mistakes and started talking about them that he began a journey in bettering himself not just as a doctor, but also as a human.

With Goldman and Dewett at the fore, this Rocketeer seeks to share just how you can best develop yourself by making marvelous mistakes.

Mistakes can only help us if we discuss them.

Mistakes can only help us grow when it is discussed in an environment that is open to collaborating and pivoting through mishaps. Casting blame on others and shame is counterproductive. The only time people learn from mistakes is when they discuss what went wrong, where the point of contention is and how it can be fixed.

Study mistakes like they’re skills.

To acknowledge a mistake is one thing to study it is another. Dissecting and trying to trace where things went wrong and while learning from it can pave the way for opportunities that point to growth. Dewett explains that dwelling on mistakes is not the same as studying them. Dwelling on mistakes is a defensive and self-flagellating stance, while studying it takes a proactive viewpoint that points toward betterment.

Do not fear mistakes.

Dewett discusses that the reason why people don’t learn from mistakes is that they always try their hardest to avoid them. In the pursuit of perfection, there is an inability to authentically extract lessons that cannot be learned through books and know-how alone. Experiences are teachable because there is a trial-and-error phase that makes people go through a self-learning phase as a result.

Push hard enough to innovate and create significant mistakes.

Taking curiosity to where you can push the limits of your creativity in managing projects or spearheading something new can get you into marvelous mistakes. Marvelous mistakes offer high-value learnings which you can apply to future endeavors.

At Rocket Station we develop our people into leaders who are beyond capable in managing mistakes and making the best out of it. Subscribe in our newsletter to have the best articles on topics like self-development in your inbox.

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3 main keys to spark growth

rs_ph_website
March 3, 2021
1:39 pm
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For most of us, the term “growth” was taught in the manner of photosynthesis. We are taught how plants need nourishment such as water, sunlight, and soil to grow into its full potential. In today’s landscape of mental health awareness, we as adults are poised to realize the growth of the self is like the initial teachings we had as young children.

At work it is no different, when we speak of growth, usually career growth is coupled with the development of one’s character and how else better to develop one’s character than to willingly instigate change and growth.

In the book, Secrets of a Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker, he attributes the level of difficulty one can face to the strength of character one develops. In one of his wealth principles, he states:

One may ask, how does one instigate growth and change? How can we even begin to take the first crucial steps in that direction? Luckily for you, we have the 3 elements one needs to do to achieve growth.

In the Venn Diagram are three components: Awareness, Acceptance and Willingness to Change. These three important factors are intrinsically necessary to spark growth and self-development in whatever field or industry. You cannot use only two lest you want to experience self-sabotage, little accountability, or no direction.

AWARENESS is first knowing where we are adept and where we are insufficient. Just a straight-forward assessment of what you are good at and what you are not so good at. A cumulative understanding of the good qualities you possess as a person and the poor qualities you possess too. For instance, a dentist may be good at managing people and raking in patients, but he lacks administrative know-how and has little follow-through with patients. The weak spot is the lack of follow-through. She may be skilled in pooling people in, but she has difficult maintaining the doctor-patient relationship through patient follow-up. Instead of being defensive and beating herself up about it, she veers onto the second component of growth which is: Acceptance.

ACCEPTANCE is being self-aware of all the things you lack and giving yourself permission to acknowledge it without judgement or self-criticism. It is a valuable skill to have not just in your career, but in life.

The third important key is having the WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE. It isn’t enough to be aware and to accept your shortcomings. You need to find ways to act and willingly try to improve whatever you lack. It may come in many forms; a socially awkward introvert can try to strike more conversations with people, a neurotic worrywart teaches himself to worry just the right amount per day, a compulsive shopper can place a budget and stick to that while locking all her credit cards away.

Growth can be seen in many ways, for different people, but it does not veer away from the three keys we have slated today.

This March, Rocket Station places value on self-development, where we give a lot of credit to the development of others, especially our own. Keep in touch with us and take the opportunity to read more of our articles by joining our mailing list and being part of the Rocketeer Community.