7 Habits

• The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. This literally turns a failure into a success. "Success," said IBM founder T.J. Watson, "is on the far side of failure."



• But to acknowledge a mistake, not to correct it and learn from it, is a mistake of a different order. It usually puts a person on a self-deceiving, self-justifying path, often involving rationalization (rational lies) to self and to others. This second mistake, this cover-up, empowers the first, giving it disproportionate importance, and causes far deeper injury to self.