THE VOICE WITHIN

A persol development expert and leadership speaker, Robin Sharma has inspired millions with his motivatiol lectures and writings. He gave up a flourishing career as a litigation lawyer when only 25. He then went on to author a succession of bestselling books; his 1997 offering The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari has been translated into over 70 languages.

His books teach about developing character and discipline, and encourage a positive outlook and sound philosophy to life. In Who Will Cry When You Die, he shares his unique insights and wisdom to help readers, like this essay titled ‘Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself’:

“It is easy to spend much of your days beating up on yourself for past mistakes. We alyze that relationship that failed and relentlessly review all the things we did wrong. Or we look at that business decision that cost us so much and dwell on the things we could have done right.

Once and for all stop being so hard on yourself. You are a human being and human beings have been designed to make mistakes. As long as you don’t keep making the same errors and have the good judgement to let your past serve you, you will be on the right track. Accept them and move on.

As Mark Twain wrote, “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there: lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. It will never sit down on a hot stove lid again — and that is well: but also it will never sit down on a cold one anymore.”

Coming to the realization that we all make mistakes and that they are essential to our growth and progress is liberating. We lose the need to be perfect and adopt a saner way of viewing our lives. We can begin to flow through life the way a mountain stream flows through a leafy forest, powerfully yet gracefully. We can filly be at peace with our true ture.

An excellent way to rise to a higher level of enlightenment and persol wisdom is to make a list of the ten biggest mistakes you have made in your life on the left-hand side of a page within your jourl. Then, on the right-hand side, write down the corresponding lessons you have learned from every mistake and the benefits that actually flowed into your life as a result of those so-called failures. You will soon see that your life would not be as rich and colorful without the mistakes of your past.

So be gentler to yourself and see life for what it really is: a path of self-discovery, persol growth and lifelong learning.”

—the harbinger