Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder, says a learner’s mindset is the key to his company’s success. “You have to be willing to fail, to be misunderstood.” NBA legend Michael Jordan said he missed more than 9,000 shots in his career and lost almost 300 games. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These two successful people gave themselves permission to fail. Although you may find this difficult to believe, failure does not define you as a person. Rather, it gives you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and grow and move forward.

Perfectionism is the enemy of learning. If you have the habit of procrastinating, it’s probably because you expect perfect results from yourself, expect perfect results from others or think others expect perfect results from you.

As a perfectionist you see the world based on how much you can do and how well you can do it. As a learner you have possibilities and every misstep is one step toward success.

Related Reading:

• Profit from the Positive, by M. Greenberg and S. Maymin
• Think Like a Freak, by S. Levitt and S. Dubner
• Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Peter C. Brown and Henry L. Roediger III