William Arthur Ward said, “To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.”

Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)

Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.

You are going to mess up. That’s right, so you might as well just accept it. If you expect perfection and take yourself too seriously all the time, you will end up a disillusioned, bitter person. Lighten up and learn how to laugh at your mistakes and faults. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t strive for excellence, but don’t let past mistakes destroy your joy. If you can’t laugh at your own shortcomings, you will find it difficult to find grace for the shortcomings of others. You are going to let yourself down, and so will others. Without the joy of humor, not only will you be miserable, you will make others feel miserable, too.

Most people have the wrong perception of failure. They see it as something to be avoided rather than something to be leveraged. The truth is failure can bring us one step closer to success. Robert Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” My mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell taught me early on that if you aren’t making any mistakes, it’s a sure sign you’re playing it too safe. I realized that you have to risk big in order to receive big. Failure is an essential component to success. It is the learning process that takes you from average to great. We should never intentionally try to fail, but we must learn how to embrace the lessons failure has to teach us.

Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. 

Those who are able to gracefully recover from their mistakes will proceed successfully toward their goals. When we beat ourselves up over our mistakes, we open the door to discouragement. And discouragement literally “disses” our courage to move forward. Part of stepping out in faith is having the courage to fail. Fearing failure is an obstacle to faith. God’s grace is bigger than your biggest failures. Instead of dwelling on your mistakes, laugh at them and learn from them. Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic, said, “Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.”