Master The Art Of Learning From Mistakes

The mistakes you make give you a chance to learn, evaluate and grow, and that’s what this human experience is all about — the constant evolution.

Doesn’t matter if it’s your business, your job, parenting or in your intimate relationships; mistakes are inevitable. They are going to be your only constant in any endeavor you undertake.

Now that you acknowledge the fact that mistakes are going to happen (whether you like it or not), it’s only fair that you master the art of learning from mistakes too. The learning part is what gives those mistakes their true meaning and gives you a chance to grow intellectually.

As I have said before, every human makes mistakes. But do these mistakes contribute to our learning in some way? Or are they just mishaps along the way that we need to ignore and move on?

A good place to check is the science and research relevant to this field.

There is a lot of research about this subject but one study that I particularly found fascinating was around the idea of deliberate mistakes and their role in learning. This recent research shows that the act of deliberately making mistakes and then correcting them promotes meaningful learning. This is called the “derring effect.”

This proves that making errors is in fact an opportunity to accelerate our learning so much so that even the deliberate mistakes leave us with something valuable.

BENEFITS: MAKING MISTAKES & LEARNING FROM THEM

Since we are talking about mistakes, let’s try finding out the benefits of making mistakes and subsequently learning from them.

Here are the most important ones.

• The mistakes we make give us knowledge about our life, our circumstances, and our capabilities. They help us learn about the things that work and others that don’t work for us. This knowledge then proves to be of tremendous value down the land when we are faced with challenges of the same kind.
• Secondly, mistakes force us to think of new, innovative solutions for our problems and reach our goals. When we acknowledge the fact that we have made a mistake (which means that the things didn’t go as we had hoped or planned), our mind starts thinking of alternate ideas and solutions. So, mistakes fuel our creativity and ingenuity.
• When we make a mistake, we learn to empathize with other humans. Mistakes remind us that we are not perfect, and neither should we expect perfection from other people. Instead, we should accept and sometimes excuse people for their mistakes because making mistakes is a part of being human.
• The real fun begins when we make mistakes and learn to overcome them. This gives a tremendous boost to our self-confidence and shatters our fears about making errors. Also, the ability to overcome mistakes makes us mentally tough and resilient.

HOW TO MOVE PAST YOUR MISTAKES?

Apart from the idea of learning from mistakes, another important aspect demands our attention – cultivating the habit of moving past our mistakes.

Once you have made a mistake, it is okay to feel angry and frustrated at yourself for a while. That’s a very natural human reaction, and you shouldn’t run away from those reactionary emotions you feel in such a situation.

However, the real problem arises when you keep dwelling on that mistake for longer periods of time. You start obsessing over what happened, and your analytical mind begins its ruthless investigation. Over time this develops into a pattern of pain, suffering, regret, and guilt.

Here are a few ways to move on from your mistakes:

ACCEPT THAT YOU HAVE MADE A MISTAKE.

First of all, you must accept that you have made a mistake. Whether it’s a mistake, you made at your work or in your personal life, the process of moving on starts with taking radical responsibility for what you have done.

FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS MISTAKE.

It’s really an art, a life skill to reflect on your mistakes; take all the wisdom from it and use it for your future endeavors. It is the process of learning from mistakes that makes a confident and successful human being.

DON’T GIVE INTO PATTERNS OF OVERTHINKING.

Overthinking is lethal. It robs you of your peace and joy. It keeps you chained to the past and doesn’t let you focus on your future.

A fantastic way to deal with such a situation is to take up a daily mindfulness or meditation practice.

VISUALIZE YOUR FUTURE

Focusing on your mistakes means being chained to your past.

You can break free from that loop by channeling all your energy toward planning your future.

Setting up a vision board can be a great help in this regard. The Vision Cloud’s vision board kit comes with the board, the pictures, and all the tools you need to identify your future goals and desires.

10 BEST QUOTES ABOUT LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

1. “If you want to grow, you need to get over any fear you may have of making mistakes.” John Maxwell
2. “In the real world, the smartest people are people who make mistakes and learn. In school, the smartest people don’t make mistakes.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki
3. “Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody has ever made before. Do not freeze, do not stop, do not worry. Whatever you are scared of doing, do it.” – Neil Gaiman
4. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
5. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
6. “What is done cannot be undone, but at least one can keep it from happening again.” – Anne Frank
7. “You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” Maxwell Maltz
8. “All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” – Winston Churchill
9. “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you’re still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.” – Tony Robbins
10. “You can’t make the same mistake twice. The second time you make it, it’s no longer a mistake. It’s a choice.”