5 Ways to Learn from Mistakes
“To err is human; to forgive, divine,”
-Alexander Pope
But the best approach is to learn from it. We all make mistakes. You can make the same understandable mistakes as everyone, or be the odd one sometimes - from forgetting things, tripping over something, accidentally bumping into someone to procrastinating urgent work, not handling situations calmly, and small errors which may cost us our work and esteem.
And it is important to know that making mistakes is just fine, human beings are not meant to be perfect. What is not fine is repeating your mistakes and not learning from them. Mistakes were probably nature's idea to put a self-improvement mechanism inside humans, and garnish it with enough cognisance to improve. Things did not turn out as planned when we ignored this beautiful mechanism.
But it is never too late to improve, so here are 5 ways in which you can convert the roadside pebbles you trip over, into stepping stones to success.
1. Own your Mistakes
This is the first step towards self-improvement through mistakes. Own what went wrong, apologise and acknowledge. If you do not own it, you will try to be evasive and play the blame game, leaving no space for improvement. It takes courage to admit mistakes, but the lessons that follow make it worth the effort.
2. Break Down your Mistakes
Breaking down an instance helps you analyse different aspects of it and think of possible causes, solutions and lessons. You might not see some issues when seen as a whole, but breaking it down into smaller pieces makes it easier to spot the blot. When you fall while running, you try to spot the cause. Was it any obstruction? Did my laces untie? Do I have a problem with my shoes? Is the path rough? Do the same with other mistakes and you’ll find what was lacking.
3. Assign a mentor to yourself
Sharing problems with people can actually make one feel less guilty and provide a space to take suggestions on how to improve. The mentor can be any person you are comfortable with, your parents, teachers, friends, colleagues, etc. Tell them how you feel and ask for their opinion and suggestions. Sharing your feelings with the same person consistently will also enable the person to know you better and give suitable feedback to you. However, it is goodto switch to another person if you feel you need a different type of support now versus earlier.
4. Maintain a track record
You can write, record a voice note or a video whenever you feel low contemplating your mistakes and also when you feel a sense of accomplishment. This will help you track how far you have come and will motivate you to do better. You can put the lessons learnt in black and white so that you do not repeat them. You will feel delighted to see how you are growing through what you are going through.
5. Stop overthinking and Relax
Sometimes it is all about pausing for a moment and spending some time with yourself. Paint that canvas, loop that song and stare at the sky. Just know that it’ll be okay and just embrace your imperfections. Contemplate your actions, but do not just keep thinking about the past and lose the present and future in that. Always try to see mistakes as opportunities to become a better version of yourself.
Lastly, always remember that you learn from failures, not success. The greatest mistake one can make is to be afraid of making one. Make mistakes, learn from them, move on.