How To Learn From Mistakes

Whether you’re starting out in real estate, or have been involved in your profession for decades, the reality is that errors will happen. Part of growing both personally and in your line of work involves making mistakes. It’s often what happens after a misstep that is most important. If you can reflect on the event and learn from it, you’ll gain valuable insight that will help you as you move forward.

Use these guidelines to learn from your mistakes and get back into the game as a better player.

1. Recognize What The Mistake Was

A couple of years into my career in brokerage, I came across what I thought was an incredible opportunity. One of my existing clients was ready to put up the family jewel. It was a larger property, and if I could help them to sell it, the transaction would become my largest to date by far.

I was invited to meet with the client and talk to them about the opportunity. I had already carried out work for them—in fact, I had just sold a smaller property of theirs and knew I had done an exceptional job. I was sure I would get this next deal, and so I walked into the meeting overly confident and assuming they were going to take me on as the broker in the sale.

Later I learned that I was only one of several professionals the client had met with to discuss the sale of the family jewel. What’s more, I realized I hadn’t done nearly as much research as the others who interviewed for it. I was less prepared and as such, I didn’t get the deal. It went to someone else who had come in with stronger information and selling points.

2. Find the Lesson in the Misstep

It was a massive disappointment to get passed over and lose out on the largest sale of my career up to that point. However, it did teach me an incredibly valuable lesson that has stuck with me ever since. I learned the importance of always bringing you’re A game to every situation. You don’t know when it will count, so it’s best to always be prepared.

I also learned to not assume that past experiences will be enough. Just because you’ve done an outstanding job in the past doesn’t mean that you can ride that wave into the next opportunity or project. This can help you avoid being overconfident and missing details that could be essential to win the business or get the next contract.

3. Look to Move Up

While it’s natural to want to avoid mistakes, they are often part of reaching toward the next level or branching into new territories. To grow in your career, it’s good to push yourself to positions that are outside of your comfort level. You can apply the lessons you learn along the way to avoid the same mistake twice.

As you move up and take on more responsibilities, you may find yourself in the role of a manager who oversees several others or a team. When this happens, you’ll want to support those at the junior level to learn from their mistakes. It can be easy for those you are supervising to look to you to have the final say in everything. If you give them a certain amount of autonomy, you’ll be giving them the chance to make their own decisions. This will give them a chance to grow as well.

Missteps are an inevitable part of any career path, and they tend to show up as we branch into new endeavors. Rather than the mistakes made, it’s the lessons learned that will help propel you toward success. Having an attitude that looks to continually improve can help you move along the journey—and encourage others to build their own careers too.