Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. – Peter T. McIntyre

It’s okay to be wrong.  I bet you don’t think it is, but I really do think it’s okay.  Don’t worry about being wrong and making mistakes. That’s how we learn.  It’s okay to make mistakes and it’s okay to be wrong.  When you let go of your fear of being wrong, that’s when you truly shine. That’s when you start to become confident.

I’m wrong a LOT, but I also worry about being wrong and I worry about making mistakes.  I worry about the backlash of when I’m wrong. I strive not to make mistakes and to not be wrong, but I frequently am.   And you know what?  I am not a confident person.  In fact, it’s safe to say that I am sorely lacking in confidence. It makes me truly see the correlation between not worrying about being wrong and being a more confident person. I need to remember that it’s okay to make mistakes.

The question is, how do you move past the fear of being wrong, the fear of making mistakes, and becoming more confident?  I wish I could say I had all the answers, but I don’t.  I think our fear of being wrong and making mistakes is formed very early.  Remember giving a wrong answer in school, or mispronouncing a word when it was time to read out loud?  What happened?  Kids laughed, and the teacher corrected you, sometimes rather harshly.  Things like that make us want to get it right, and make us want to be perfect.  I can remember in reading group trying to figure out how many kids were ahead of me to read so I could mentally practice the section I was supposed to read.  Doing that meant I missed all the content and wouldn’t be able to answer questions about anything except for the section I had to read. End result, fear of making mistakes and a total lack of confidence. I wish I knew that that it’s okay to make mistakes.

Let go of the need to always be right, and the fear of being wrong.  It’s okay to be wrong and it’s okay to make mistakes.  Take chances, speak up and try new and different things and let the confidence flow through you.