Isaiah 41:10 – Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

I get why someone caught with a misdemeanor would prefer the word wrong. In modern times, people will often say that they did something by mistake while making apologies. To do something by mistake means that you did it by accident and without intention.

Because it is done by accident, usually you will not know about the mistake until it is done and you are pointed to it. So fast, in fact, that it happened before you even realized you made a mistake. Once you recognize your error, consider what you can do to avoid having that happen again.

If you can reframe your mistake as an opportunity for learning, you will be motivated to be more aware and resilient. When we frame our mistakes as opportunities for learning, we are far more likely not to face failure in the long run. It is also really important that we learn from our mistakes, so that we can adjust our responses and do things differently the next time we are in the same situation.

When you commit an error, you can learn from it and fix it, while you can learn from just failing. Rather, admitting to your mistakes, and showing that you learned from them, may help others to see that making mistakes is OK. That is, if you are acting in an intelligent, well-intentioned way, and keeping your risk-taking within agreed boundaries. If you waste time in an interview talking about all of the ways others–or the company itself–failed, you are not really acknowledging you made mistakes.

Psalms 37:24 – Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

The interviewer wants to hear you are capable of learning from your mistakes, and taking steps to ensure that these mistakes will not happen again. While nobody likes talking about their mistakes, being able to talk about your past mistakes during the job interview may actually be a good way to impress an interviewer.

These tips will help you to describe the times when you have made mistakes in a way that makes it obvious you are the right candidate for the job. Ask a current or former coworker, or someone from outside the organization, their take on the mistake, and what they think you could have done to make up. They will probably have some helpful suggestions about how you can set your error in context and rebuild your reputation. Explaining what led up to the error, without being defensive, may help people understand more about why it happened, and how it could be avoided in the future.

Proverbs 28:13 – He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

You should reference an actual mistake that you made, rather than trying to make it seem like you did not make one. Reframing is not making excuses, it is making an authentic effort to help people see your error in another light.

A failure is a consequence of the wrong actions, while an error is often an act of error. A mistake, or even the concept of a failure, is just a snapshot that we have frozen in time. It is almost like the brain knows that we are making a mistake in just a few seconds, even before we are conscious of it.

Ephesians 5:8 – For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

One of the things researchers have found to work is that when an individual makes a mistake, the brain produces a certain type of brain activity. The brain is extremely sensitive to mistakes, and when we make mistakes, it produces a particular type of electrical activity called the EERN. The ERN is probably a result of the cingulate cortex sensing the mistake and sending a warning signal to other parts of the brain, via connections called the Cingulum Bundle, which directs a persons attention in order to reduce the chance that another mistake will occur. If an ERN shows that the brain reacts to and responds to errors, a truly powerful ERN may be that the brain overreacts, becoming more frustrated and alarmed at making an error than it should.

Most people try to avoid making mistakes, and some experience higher levels of anxiety and worry when they commit errors. Fear of making mistakes affects not just our personal relationships, but also affects our work and careers. We would rather avoid making mistakes, but they are unavoidable without perfect focus and perfect forecasting.

James 3:2 – For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Failures are not always caused by mistakes, sometimes they just cannot be avoided. While mistakes may cause failures, they do not always need to result in them. Poor decisions or faulty processes may occasionally result in mistakes, but this does not mean that every poor result is a mistake.

A companys failure may result from the flawed decision-making process of one person or group, or may result from a bad execution from one group of people. Errors made at work may lead to financial losses or even dismissal.

Mistakes are painful when they occur, but years later, that compilation of mistakes, called experiences, leads us to succeed. Generally speaking, a mistake is a decision or an action we later come to regret. For me, a mistake is something like forgetting to put baking powder in the recipe, or hiring somebody who lies about their qualifications, or marrying the wrong person — things that come about because of distraction, unfamiliarity, or misunderstanding of facts.

Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

A slip up is a non-planned action in which an instructor believes she is doing the right thing, and a bug is a non-planned departure from the desired behavior, with a surprising result–the desired one being the instructors own. Mistakes have many uses, but they are all about doing something incorrectly. A mistake could come from poor judgement, a lack of information, or not paying attention to details.

Whether an error is small or a personality-based, individual goals and action plans lay the foundation to put into practice the lessons learned. If you have a growth mindset, then it is very possible you see mistakes as opportunities for improvement, rather than as something that you are destined to repeat, as your mind is fixed to a belief that you cannot get better.

Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.