How do you feel when you make a mistake? Or when you have failed at a task? Do you feel like your failures define you; are they painful to recollect?
You may have heard the saying before; 'learn from your mistakes', but exactly how are you meant to do this if you shy away from them?
A mistake is only a mistake, if you ignore it. A failure is only a failure if you fail to recognise the opportunity to learn.
-- Cryptogee
The Importance Of Analysis
Mistakes used to tear me up inside, I would dwell on them for ages, and then eventually bury them deep in my psyche. To me, as it is to a lot of people, the word failure was a noun, not a verb.
However it is important to remember that failure is a verb. It's something you do, not something you are. A failure denotes when a task has gone wrong, it does not point out what is wrong with you.
It is only when you fully understand that, and accept it, that you will be able to look upon past failures and mistakes as an opportunity to learn.
In that respect, failures and mistakes become something to look forward to, because each one represents potential to grow and enrich your life.
However beyond acceptance, there has to be a practical exercise, that will help you learn from your mistakes. Without the practicality, the words are just that, words. So let me show you a little trick that I have learned and put into practice.
Boy oh boy is this one hell of a powerful weapon to put in your mental arsenal.
The Learning List
As you know if you've been following along with the *Incredible You!* series, is all about advice on reaching your full potential. However I don't like to use empty words, cliches and platitudes, instead I want to give practical advice that will help you realise the power of you.
With that being said, let us now find out how we can truly learn from our mistakes.
The key is making a list of your mistakes, analysing why they became mistakes, and then writing down the ways you are going to avoid those mistakes again.
It sounds simple, however if you try this technique, I guarantee you will see results immediately. Below I have put my list of mistakes that I feel I made in 2017.
Of course I'm sure that I made many more mistakes than this, however I wanted to concentrate on the ones that I felt impacted my life the most.
Mistakes Mean You're Learning
You probably don't remember being a baby and learning to walk, and I wasn't there to witness it, however I bet you all the Steem in my account that you didn't jump out of your mother's womb and start to immediately walk!
I bet you made mistakes along the way, and I bet those mistakes didn't define you. You simply got up and carried on, till hey, look at you now, you're an expert walker!
The desire to shy away from our mistakes comes purely from a fixed mindset, I call my fixed mindset Nigel. This is so that anytime I feel like running away from my mistakes, or ashamed by my failures. I can tell Nigel to go and shove it, because I know mistakes and fails don't define me, and they indicate that I am learning.
However we can only learn by analysis; remember, doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different result, is the definition of madness. The only thing to combat this, is an honest appraisal of our mistakes.
Grow Grow And Grow Some More
I have put myself in a growth mindset by focusing on the effort I give, not on the results of said efforts.
Would you start your dream job and every day just focus on the money you're getting? Or would you concentrate on the work you were doing, trying to be the best you could in the job?
If you do something well, do not feel superior, if you do something badly do not feel inferior. Simply strive to work hard and smart, and the rest will take care of itself.
Now off you go, make your own list, I made mine span a year, maybe yours will be shorter, maybe it will be longer. That's the thing about this series, it is about making you incredible, in your own unique way.
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS METHOD BEFORE? OR PERHAPS YOU BELIEVE YOUR FAILURES DEFINE YOU? PERHAPS YOU CAN TRY THIS AND SEE HOW IT GOES? WHATEVER THE CASE, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Remember, a life without errors can not be mentioned. When you make a mistake, the probabilities that can occur in the result of a decision are no longer probable, and it will be clear to you. Of course this is not an absolute truth, but it will be very effective if you decide on your next choice. There have to be so many mistakes to be made in life; there's no point insisting on making the same mistake, says Sartre. I like your lecture, I support your ideas!
Thank you
Yes that was a great post. @artizm
The greatest individualistic wars the everyone must fight is the war to conquer self. This include the ability to own up to ones mistakes.
This was a great read and more people should take time to consider the true value of mistakes. @cryptogee
Awesome post... thumb up
I'll begin by saying this article was very helpful. Going through it, I remember mistakes I've made in time past.
You know sometimes you could mess up so badly, that you are ashamed of what you did. You'll hear thoughts in your head to drown your 'spirit of winning'. Sometimes you feel like just letting go, and running away;but you must be strong. You can only conquer those mistakes when you face them squarely.
It's amazing when you look back and see that things that brought you down before,no longer do.
Finally, you must have a strong sense of self esteem. Respect yourself, believe in yourself,if you don't no one else will. Thank you
Yes. I agree. Making a mistake is an opportunity for us to grow. Thank you for sharing your 'mistake roadmap'.
Mistakes also is like experience as a best teacher and way of learning. A good post and an eye opener one. Hope many of our co steemians drop by and get to read your post 'coz it is indeed a good guidance and an awareness.. Thanks for this (copy that) and I was thingking doing some list of my mistakes to reflect and grow and guided.. God bles you and more post @cryptogee
Your words are right... If we learn from our mistakes we will be better conditions than before...
Really nice article...
Vote and follow
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Steem's price is dipping so hard right now, time to buy Cryptogee, don't skip this one up!
Great article, awesome content . was really worth the read. gave some lovely insight into the source behind our problems. I recently wrote an article that compliments what you are saying here if you'd like to give it a read, I'm sure you'd enjoy it ( https://steemit.com/life/@papasmurf/food-for-the-striving-soul )
live and learn, right? yes as long as we actually learn ;-). Looks like you've got a great approach to helping yourself through "mistakes"/learning experiences. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
There's a great quote from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam (Scientist and former President of India) that reads:
“If you fail, never give up because F.A.I.L. means "First Attempt In Learning"
End is not the end, in fact, E.N.D. means "Effort Never Dies"
If you get no as an answer, remember N.O. means "Next Opportunity".
So let's be positive. "
Plus as Yoda says in The Last Jedi: "The greatest teacher, failure is."
A fab read, keep it up!
Nigel can go sit in the naughty corner
Curious, my boss's dad has a phrase "prohibited the error", I think I hate that phrase... and I keep saying, nobody make a mistake because we want. NOBODY. And replay to that, if we were perfect we´ll be in heaven. The reason we are here, in this world is to learn...
I have always thought that, it is right, we are spirituals being in a human life, so , our work here is to learn . you can learn without making mistakes it is true, but the learning derived from the mistake made is stronger. So, all we have to do is review our decisions and actions and avoid to make it again. It is not that you are going to make something wrong to " learn" , it doesn´t work that way either...