Learning From Mistakes Of Life

Life is continually teaching each of us lessons. We need to pay attention to the daily events we experience, our reactions to them, and even others’ experiences in our lives to learn something on any given day.  One of the things that I have noticed about myself and everyone I know is that we don’t like to make mistakes. When we do, we beat ourselves up for them for days, years, and sometimes, for the rest of our lives.  It makes you wonder why we are so afraid to make mistakes.  Are we born perfect knowing everything? Aren’t mistakes an inevitable part of growing and developing as a human being?  If you show me someone who has never made a mistake, I will show you someone who has never tried.  It makes me wonder why we are so afraid to make mistakes as a society.  When you look at our educational system, it is designed to celebrate the achievements of a select few, while the majority of students, who may be the most creative thinkers and eventually the people who would change the world, are held up and discouraged by this unrealistic expectation of our society to conform.  Be perfect, or you are a failure.  Why are we so afraid to fail?

Everyone Does it; what Are they Learning From Mistakes?

We are afraid of mistakes because we have an unrealistic idea that successful people don’t make them, ever.  When you look into history, you see the accomplishments of our great leaders. You imagine that they never made any mistakes.  Throughout his life, Abraham Lincoln failed miserably at almost everything he tried until he became president. Lincoln’s brilliance was that he didn’t let his previous failures stop him from continuing to try.  He wouldn’t have been the wise and talented leader he became if it wasn’t for the experience of those mistakes he made in his life.  Lincoln was not perfect; he was the ideal leader for that time in history.  Today the media would not allow Lincoln to become President because his mistakes would be broadcast as an indictment of his competence rather than an example of his character and perseverance.

Learning From Mistakes Doesn’t Equal Weakness

Another reason we fear learning from mistakes because they allow others to see our weaknesses.  Most

When you make a mistake, you feel like the whole world is watching, even though there may only be a few people aware of your misstep.  We equate these mistakes with being less of a person rather than just a natural part of the learning process.  If you never made a mistake, you have never tried anything new, and if you have never felt angry, upset, and embarrassed about a mistake, then you have never lived.  It is not a weakness to try. The ability to fail, evaluate why it happened, make adjustments, and try anew should be the backbone of any great educational system.  That learning process can carry over into every aspect of your life.  You will never really learn if you don’t look honestly at your mistakes and take the lessons you will give yourself. Learning from mistakes is a talent.

Mistakes in Controlled Situations

One of the many reasons that extracurricular activities are so vitally important to society is that they provide a safe place to make mistakes and quickly learn lessons about how to

Overcome them.  When you play on a sports team, you will make mistakes during a game. It happens you miss a shot, you give up a goal, you get beaten by a player with more excellent skill, but these mistakes each provide you with a learning opportunity, and it is your choice to participate or not.  Sports can teach you to persevere, be unselfish, identify your weaknesses, and work to overcome them.  If embraced and identified, the ability to follow the learning process in a natural workshop will allow all participants to grow.  Even if you get cut from a team after a tryout, valuable lessons are gleaned.  You can quit the sport forever or identify your weaknesses, work to improve them and try again.  You may not make the team, but if you follow the process of trying, failing, identifying weaknesses, working to improve, and then trying again, you are well on your way to success.  This skill can be applied to any aspect of your life.

Living  Your Life vs. Running Out the Clock

As we grow older, many people start believing that they are immune from making mistakes.  The experience will help guide you, and wisdom will help you avoid simple mistakes, but if you make no mistakes, you have stopped trying to learn and have decided to run out of the clock.  When you have a seemingly good lead in basketball, trying to run out the clock is common practice.  Once the clock expires and you are ahead, you win the game.  Teams stop trying to create offense and score new baskets as they are satisfied with their accomplishments and running away the time.  Many people adopt this philosophy in their lives.  They plan out their lives on a plan, high school, college, career, family, retirement, followed inevitably by death.  At some point during this process, you will hit a run-out clock situation, waiting for retirement or death. People seem satisfied and never make mistakes again.  Not knowing something can be scary because if there is something that you don’t know, then what else don’t you know? That can inspire some people but scare the ever-loving crap out of someone else.  Learning and experiencing new things is preferable to running out of the clock.  Try something. If you make a mistake, evaluate why it didn’t work, make adjustments, then try again.  This is the learning process that can lead you to ultimate success. Doing nothing and running the clock will lead you to retirement or death.  Good luck. Time to start learning from mistakes and not being afraid of what might happen.

Life is a Learning Process

Life, as I see it, is a learning process, and mistakes and failure have been given to you as a gift to help you find where you have weaknesses or shortcomings, make adjustments, and achieve success in whatever sphere you want to achieve success in.  Mistakes should not be something you fear, like a monster. They should be embraced, evaluated, learned from, and then discarded into the memory of your experience.  Failure is never final until you stop trying. Hug your mistakes and value the part they play in your learning process. Taking the time to learn from mistakes is a significant part.

“You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” Maxwell Maltz

“When someone does something wrong, don’t forget everything they did right.” Anonymous

“When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it.” Paul Bear Bryant

“Mistakes can turn you into something better than you were before.” Anonymous

“Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.” Anonymous

“Don’t mention a person’s past mistakes when trying to change. That’s like throwing rocks at them while they are struggling to climb a mountain.” Anonymous

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” Oscar Wilde