Admitting Mistakes

I have been working with two top guys from a radio program to prepare some “One Minute Advice” radio spots. I tell you, it’s really interesting in life—you have certain things you learn how to do and you get confidence, and all of a sudden you’re asked to do something that you’re not used to. In this case for me, it’s to say something in just a minute. Even though I’m called the One Minute Manager, you know, I usually have more to say than what takes a minute!

But it’s been a good learning process. I’ve thought a number of times about John Maxwell’s saying: “A winner is big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” So as I’ve been going through this process, I would do one of the spots and then laugh and say, “Of course, we need to do that one over again!” and try to profit from what didn’t go well and see if I could correct it the next time. So I’ve been dealing with my own image of myself—what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. But I’m learning! I’m getting better all the time. It’s been an interesting process.

I think that’s good advice for all of us, to be big enough to admit when you’ve made a mistake, smart enough to profit from a mistake, and strong enough to correct it. Otherwise you would do the same thing wrong over and over again. That would get a little boring and it could be career damaging.

Take care of yourself—have a great day. Life is a very special occasion even though some days are more learning days than others.

2 thoughts on “Admitting Mistakes

  1. Ken,

    I’m sure your “One Minute Sessions” will be tremendous. Also the quote from John Maxwell is profound.

    Gary Duke

  2. Ken,
    You are correct that dealing with deep subjects will most likely take longer than a minute. I was thinking of a few different approaches. Perhaps you could use the Introduction time to set up the subject for the day and then having your voice for only “one minute”. Another idea was to segment up the ideas as part one through part five on a weekly basis. Yes, it is technically a five minute message, but the benefits of spending this much time would be amazing! Lastly would be to have just quick little bites of information that don’t go deep. There is a segment that plays on my Christian radio station that claims to be something like 30 second life changing moments. If 30 seconds can change your life, then one minute should at least positively influence your day! Lord bless you, my brother.

    Zeus Ramirez

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