You’ll make your entire experience with others better if you presume that everyone has some healthy ambition. People want to be good at things. People don’t want to try and fail; they want to try and succeed. So, when someone makes a mistake, they would probably love a quick, concise, light-hearted demonstration.
Show others how to do the thing they don’t know to do. Give the missing component on a circuit board. Give the correct programming syntax for reference. Don’t lecture or persuade, just offer.
God gave horses incredible legs—no one can resist the urge to use legs that incredible. Every dog is endowed by its Creator with an inalienable smelling machine, some call it a “nose”. Who wouldn’t want to use such an inalienable smelling machine to smell everything a thousand times!? Likewise, humans have a will and opposable thumbs. We’re like walking computers that want to master whatever is around us.
Do yourself a favor: Presume as much about others.
When someone messes up, there’s no need for rebuke nor give a sales pitch to do better. In those moments that we feel lazy or lax on our duties, we don’t need to be hassled toward success—we need to be reminded that this is also worth succeeding with. Sometimes we feel like giving up, never because we are “quitters” at our core, but because don’t see any feasible way forward.
When someone is discouraged, just show them a path, point to any tunnel with a light at the end. That’s what we’re all looking for anyway. And, if you ever find someone who can’t see any light at the end of any tunnel, maybe you can be that light—not only with your words, but with proof of the results from your own journeys. It’s excellent encouragement to receive just a few words from someone who has done something telling you that you can do it also.
Make sure you have the results in your life so your encouragements are meaningful. Then you’ll always have a place in this world. After all, everyone has some level of ambition and thus needs a little light for the journey to guide and empower.