The willingness to make mistakes is probably the single most freeing decision you can make. When you allow yourself to make mistakes, you free yourself from all constraints of seeking perfection and you open yourself up to all kinds of opportunities and possibilities. Life coaches work with clients to get them to take action without the need to be right or correct or perfect

Perfection is a limitation. Firstly because when you achieve perfection there is nowhere to go beyond that. Secondly you can become so conditioned to achieving perfection that you actually prevent yourself from doing things and taking opportunities because you are afraid that you may ?get it wrong? or you might ?not be good at it?. It is the responsibility of the coach to get the client to focus on the possibility of having a go.

?Better to do something imperfectly than it is to do nothing flawlessly? (Robert H. Schuller).

A life coach enables you to grant yourself willingness to make mistakes, so that you can open the world up to you. You free yourself to attempt new things or to aim higher. You know that by allowing yourself to make mistakes, there is no emphasis on getting it right or doing it well. Instead, you create learning experiences that assist you to develop and to grow.

A coach basically asks ?Are you waiting to be great at something before you will do it?? Sounds ridiculous, but this is a genuine belief that holds people back. For example a common fear a lot of people have is public speaking. They fear that they will stand up in front of people and get it wrong. Even though they might be able to get their message out to far more people by public speaking, they will avoid doing it. Even if their job depends on it they will make every attempt to avoid it. Yet how did all the great public speakers become great public speakers? They stood up and they spoke to audiences! They attempted it, learned what would make it better the next time, made the improvements and kept practicing. In essence the life coach or business coach doesn?t assist the client to be a better public speaker, they assist the client to open themselves to learning, to new experiences, to having a go.

?What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing?. (Aristotle).

Imagine how different life would be if the only outcome you desired was to have fun doing it? What if, instead of focusing on doing it right, you just jumped in knowing that there is no failure only feedback? Have a go at anything. You don?t need a life coach to teach you ? you just need to permit yourself to not be perfect on the first attempt.

If you permitted yourself to make 5 mistakes a day, what things might you now be attempting? What opportunities would open up before you? What is more important getting it right, doing it well, or learning and growing? Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Make learning and having fun your only outcome.