Hat tip to Dan Pink for this week’s blog post.
In this week’s Pinkcast, Dan shares an idea that can help us to maximize the benefits associated with mistakes. While we can often learn from our mistakes, it is just as important to be able to move on from them, to put them behind us. However, many people have trouble with this.
So Dan shares some advice he picked up from reading Olympic softball player Jennie Finch’s book: Throw Like a Girl.
In the book, Jennie shares a story where the team she was playing for hired a sports psychologist. One of the techniques used by the sports psychologist was placing a tiny toilet in the dugout.
Whenever a player would strike out, make a fielding error, or throw a bad pitch, or any number of mistakes,ย she came back to the dugout and go over to the tiny toilet and flush it, to symbolize the flushing away of the mistake. Apparently, Jennie Finch found this quite effective, and it’s hard to argue with the success she has had.
Dan suggests getting a tiny toilet and placing it on your desk, so that the next time you make a mistake, just flush it away.
And just like Dan does at the end of his video, if you find reading this post to have been a mistake, well now you can just flush it away with your tiny toilet.
But a warning is in order; reading too many of my blog posts could cause your tiny toilet to get backed up.
Pinkcast 4.12: This is how a tiny toilet can help you move beyond your screwups | Daniel H. Pink
*image from Etsy
I actually have toilet on my desk that is four and a half times the size of a normal toilet. I use it just for this purpose.
I have a very large desk.
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that must allow you to make some really big mistakes…
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Would you believe it if I told you that I’d never had an opportunity to use it?
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then it may have been a mistake investing in such a large toilet…
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I’d never thought of that.
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that’s what I’m here for…
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I’ll use the tiny toilet, but only if it’s okay to leave the lid up.
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you should probably get his and her tiny toilets
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Such a clever idea. And I even know where to get one. PS is it meant to be : Throw Like a Gir. Or Girl? PPS I don’t think your blog is a waste of time ๐
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thanks for catching that Girl mistake – I guessthat gives me something to flush down the toilet… ๐
and thanks for the PPS ๐
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LOL! Hmmm…so should I purchase some tiny toilets for Christmas ๐ gifts?
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well if it’s a mistake, you and your recipients can just flush it away…
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LOL! True!
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๐
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Okay, but what happens if the toilet gets clogged? Do I need to call a plumber or do you have a plunger?
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I think you just throw it away and get another one; that’s another way to put a mistake behind you…
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I would love a tiny toilet for my miniature collection.
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just remember what it’s real purpose is…
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Yeah, it’s a water bowl for pets.
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glad to know our dog isn’t the only one…
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If you think that tiny toilet is going to help, then you have never seen the size of my mistakes….๐!
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I don’t think I want to… ๐
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What a cute idea.
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it’s a clever visual…
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Indeed.
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Seems like a good idea. Let’s see. I’d need one for my desk at work (if I was still working), my home, my car, one to carry around with me. Definitely one for my blog. Maybe I should invest in the tiny toilet maker.
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and if your investment goes bad, just flush it away…
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Oh I’ve got that down pat. Lots of practice. ๐
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same here… ๐
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I think these tiny toilets should make a big satisfying noise.
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I agree; I think the noise would help enhance one’s ability to move on from our mistakes. Or maybe it could play a song…
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A song would be great!
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maybe “wipeout”… ๐
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Ha ha ha.
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Haha, great idea, but I think I’ll pass! I am very good at flushing out my mistakes with a metaphorical toilet that lives in my head ๐
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and there’s probably less maintenance required with a metaphorical toilet… ๐
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Well, it does back up on me sometimes….
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๐คฃ
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Visualizing getting rid of one’s anger, fear or mistakes this way (or other way involving running water) is a great concept and one I believe it can work.
I read a similar paragraph in one of Tess Gerritsen’s novels, a way for her main character to rid herself of anguish by taking a shower (nothing descriptive), and I thought it was an excellent use of imagery.
Although… the scene with Victor and a Tiny Toilet from ‘Despicable Me’ springs to mind. ๐
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I can see a shower being more effective, since it is much more tactile, and you can feel the mistake washing away from you. I have not seen Despicable Me ๐
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Youโd need very good aim to fill that toilet of hisโฆ
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a good way to practice hand and eye coordination…
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I think there could be a third part to thatโฆ
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this is a g-rated blog ๐
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๐
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That piece of porcelain is meant for future archeologists to marvel over the little companions we had with us. if they find the green Martian in the Flintstones, there’ll be an instant, massive Aha! moment.
— Catxman
http://www.catxman.wordpress.com
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I’m wondering if future archeologists will jsut want to skip this whole generation…
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What I’ve been needing all my life. My life has been riddled with mistakes, some of which bugged me almost being a disability, harnessing all my creative powers, laying me low for days, years…. If I’d just had the tiny plastic toilet. ๐
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it’s never too late; apparently they are all over the place for sale on Etsy… ๐
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Gotta get one for my teen-aged self. She was riddled with self-doubt!
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I would have worn out the handle on mine…
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Interesting! I have used the analogy of hanging my day’s baggage on the tree outside before entering my home.
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that sounds like another effective way to put things behind us and move forward…
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๐
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