As I sit here in Kauai, HI on vacation I have some down time to reflect on the past. As many of you many know, I am here with my wife Loree to celebrate our 5-year wedding anniversary. While I am so happy being married to Loree for these last 5 years, I must say that it hasn’t always been wine and roses.

As in marriage, business is not always perfect. In life and in business we do make mistakes.  We know from experience that we should do our best not to make those mistakes again in the future but sometimes we do.

I recall a few years ago when I first started coaching I was asked to help interview and hire a sales person for one of my most successful clients. I was more than happy to based on my experience of hiring people. We interviewed a number of candidates over the phone and then chose 3 to interview in person. The candidate I preferred may not have had the most experience but they were the one I felt was the most “hungry” for success. My client decided to hire this person based on my recommendation. As it turned out, they didn’t make a sale worth a #$%. In my defense, I did advise my client after 6 months to fire this person but he kept him for a year and a half before the employee, thankfully, quit.  If a scenario like this came up again, I might still recommend a candidate like this one. He interviewed very well, but I am sure that based upon this past experience my client would now take my advice and fire him after a lack of production.

As I reflect on the last 5 years of marriage with my beautiful wife Loree, I see the mistakes that I have made and I have worked hard as a man and a husband to improve myself. I feel that I have done pretty well because she is still with me and loves me.

I hope that you take a minute out of your busy schedules to reflect on your errors or mistakes.  As you think back on them, keep this in mind; although you may have had the potential to do better you simply did not have the tools, abilities or experience to do anything differently.  By embracing that fact and by taking responsibility for your mistakes, accepting that it was the best you could do at the time and truly learning from them, you will have a better chance of not repeating them.

You know as I end this blog post I need to make a shameless plug for my MSP coaching services. Coaching is not all about business, it is about life and when I work with someone we do discuss their personal life. If your home life is not great, your business cannot be great because of the distractions. As an MSP Coach, I will help you get your head straight and work through any problems. I have been there and trust me when I say; I will make mistakes but I choose to learn from them.

All the best in success and life,

Stu