I'm an idiot!
Learning from your mistakes starts with admitting them. I’m an idiot sometimes, and I don’t want anyone putting me on a pedestal. Much of the experience I share comes from things I’ve done wrong myself or still struggle with.
The video is from 6 April 2010. I couldn’t stay away completely during my holiday, because there was something from my latest post that I needed to put right.
Learning from your mistakes calls for an apology
The other day, I told a story about throwing a computer. I had exposed an unnamed family member, and I’m sorry about that. I apologise. I shouldn’t have done it.
I mean that seriously. I’m not saying it as a joke or just to get it over with. It was thoughtless. Perhaps one person will watch the video and hopefully think I mean it. Everyone else can disregard the specific apology, but it got me thinking.
Fan mail is lovely, but I’m not a guru
At that point, I’m getting an incredible amount of fan mail. Fan mail for me, for fuck’s sake. I left school after ninth grade. Some people write as if I’m some great guru.
Please keep writing. It boosts my ego, and it’s absolutely lovely. But I also find it difficult, because there’s a reason I can sit here talking about all these things: I’ve made the mistakes myself.
Don’t imagine I’m infallible and just pottering around in my own little world spotting everyone else’s mistakes. That’s not how it works.
The things I point out are things I’ve screwed up myself, or inner demons I’m fighting like hell. This isn’t experience I’ve gained by standing on the sidelines and being better than everyone else.
I’ve done stupid and immoral things too
Have I committed insurance fraud myself? Yes, I actually did it once. Am I proud of it? No, I bloody well am not. Would I do it again? No.
I’ve done other stupid and immoral things too. I’ve screwed up as an entrepreneur more than you would believe, and I’ve been dishonest with people. You’ll find more of my experiences as an entrepreneur in Iværksætter til jeg dør.
All the mistakes and things I talk about are things I’m struggling with or have struggled with myself. So don’t put me on any pedestal. I don’t deserve it.
What I try to do is recognise when I’ve done something wrong and avoid doing it again. I try to learn from it.
The mistakes cost more than they gave me
When I think about it, I ask myself what I actually gained from lying, cheating or doing the other things. And I’ve realised it cost me much more than it gave me.
That’s why I love sharing these experiences. If you can use some of them to avoid making the same ridiculous mistakes, then my own spectacular screw-ups will at least have been worth something.
We’re all going to screw up. My point is that how we deal with the mistakes afterwards matters. If we just carry on, we’re idiots. If we think about them and try to become better people, we’re moving in a better direction.
That doesn’t justify all the crap we get up to. But it matters whether we try to put our mistakes right or just keep going.
Use your own judgement, even when you’re listening to me
Try to become a little more moral. Moral sounds so boring, so let’s say more genuinely decent. If you make an effort to do that, I think you should feel a little proud of yourself too.
You’re welcome to write to me, and I’ll try to help within reason. But I make mistakes, and some of what I say may apply to me and not to you.
So use your own sound judgement. Listen, take what you can use and learn from the things you do wrong yourself. And once again: I’m sorry.
Best wishes, Martin
En fejl er først en fejl anden gang den begås 🙂