TruthOrator's Blog

Setbacks, financial or otherwise, can feel like a giant punch in the gut when you’re clocking the 25th mile of a marathon. Once the momentum is disturbed so jarringly, it can be a huge challenge to correct course and keep moving forward. However, it’s not impossible — and you’re still in a better place than when you started at mile marker one. So how can you keep moving forward after dealing with an unexpected setback? Start with these tips. Are you really dealing with a setback or a new opportunity? Analyzing situations, for many of us, is an either or proposition. Something is either good or bad, and once something is considered “bad,” it is only very rarely able to switch camps. So we continue reacting to this “bad” thing in a way that confirms it’s negative affect on our lives. But what if that “bad” thing wasn’t so bad after all? What if losing that job pushed you to find a better position at a different company? What if that late payment just made you aware of...

It's never easy to admit you've made a mistake, but it's a crucial step in learning, growing, and improving yourself. Writer and speaker Scott Berkun's new essay collection,  Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds , examines, among other things, how to learn from your mistakes. In this excerpt, Berkun discusses four of the most common kinds of mistakes, how to recognize them, and how, in turn, to learn from them. You can only learn from a mistake after you admit you've made it. As soon as you start blaming other people (or the universe itself), you distance yourself from any possible lesson. But if you courageously stand up and honestly say "This is my mistake and I am responsible" the possibilities for learning will move towards you. Admission of a mistake, even if only privately to yourself, makes learning possible by moving the focus away from blame assignment and towards understanding. Wise people admit their mistakes easily. They know pr...