Making mistakes is an important part of life. We learn from our mistakes. Mistakes are the best lessons of our life. They are something that happens unintentionally and without the knowledge of a human being. The only way mistakes can be avoided is to never do anything. Therefore, in my opinion it is necessary to make mistakes. But the question here is that what when these mistakes made by us, though unintentionally hurt the people around us? Is it the right thing to be done then? The reason as to why it is necessary to make mistakes is that mistakes are a learning experience for us. We learn about ourselves through our mistakes and even learn how to become a better citizen for the society.
Failures are the stepping stones to success. It is from those mistakes which makes us a better person and strive hard to our dream destination. Our mistakes teach us what went wrong and how to correct it. Each and every human has come across a phase in their life which they thought was their hardest part of their life. However, this particular phase taught them to become bigger and better.
Time and experience have proved to be the best teachers they can be. Every wrong or bad decision we take has a life lesson that we learn. Time is a way of telling how far you have come. Experience is a way of telling how strong you have become. We need to learn from the mistakes that we make. In this wake we make a stronger version of ourselves that later becomes indestructible. Only from a proper experience phase of your life you learn how to judge anything and everything in an unbiased manner. A fraction of us have to fall a couple of times on the same stone before they learn that particular lesson. Knowledge is wisdom. Knowledge is everything. The knowledge you have helps you to make a good or a bad judgement of the current situations.
You grow internally and externally when you realize your mistakes. You learn how to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. Some of our mistakes can bring us down and prove to be very dangerous. It may run us into a trap that seem to eat you up. Regardless of the mistake you made, you have to carefully observe and analyse the situation and take the necessary steps. This will highly the inner you and teach the others to look up to you.
Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’ll never do that again,” only to find yourself doing the exact same thing just a short time later? If so, you’re not alone. It’s likely all of us have repeated some of our mistakes at one time or another.
But making the same mistakes over and over can be costly in more ways than one. Perhaps your team has lost faith in you because your behavior doesn’t match your words. Or maybe your errors have cost you or someone else a lot of money.
The good news is, you can take steps to learn from your mistakes. Then, instead of repeating them again, you’ll gain valuable wisdom that will help you in the future.
Here are five ways to learn from your mistakes:
1. Acknowledge Your Errors
So often, leaders say things like, “I’m sorry you felt that way,” or “It’s unfortunate it didn’t work out.” But blaming other people or minimizing your responsibility isn’t helpful to anyone.
Before you can learn from your mistakes, you have to accept full responsibility for your role in the outcome. That can be uncomfortable sometimes, but until you can say, “I messed up,” you aren’t ready to change.
2. Ask Yourself Tough Questions
While you don’t want to dwell on your mistakes, reflecting on them can be productive. Ask yourself a few tough questions:
• What went wrong?
• What could I do better next time?
• What did I learn from this?
Write down your responses and you'll see the situation a little more clearly. Seeing your answers on paper can help you think more logically about an irrational or emotional experience.
3. Make A Plan
Beating yourself up for your mistakes won’t help you down the road. It’s important to spend the bulk of your time thinking about how to do better in the future.
Make a plan that will help you avoid making a similar mistake. Be as detailed as possible but remain flexible since your plan may need to change.
Whether you find an accountability partner or you track your progress on a calendar, find a way to hold yourself accountable. Keep in mind that what works for one person might not work with someone else.
4. Make It Harder To Mess Up
Don’t depend on willpower alone to prevent you from taking
an unhealthy shortcut or from giving into immediate gratification. Increase
your chances of success by making it harder to mess up again.
As a psychotherapist, I’ve worked with people who have found
some creative ways to become more disciplined. I once worked with a woman who
blew her budget every month because she shopped online late whenever she was
bored.
To prevent herself from having instant access to her cards, she froze her credit cards in a big block of ice. She’d have to wait for the ice to melt to get the number. Whenever she found herself trying to thaw the block of ice, she would pause and realize how ridiculous the situation was and she’d stop short of spending money she didn’t have.
5. Create A List of Reasons Why You Don’t Want to Make the
Mistake Again
Sometimes, it only takes one weak moment to indulge in
something you shouldn’t. Creating a list of all the reasons why you should stay
on track could help you stay self-disciplined, even during the toughest times.
I once worked with a woman who wanted to stop talking to her
ex-boyfriend. She knew he wasn’t good for her but she couldn’t’ resist
answering the phone whenever he called.
She created a list of all the reasons why she shouldn’t talk
to him—it was bad for her mental health, they were toxic together, etc. She
laminated the list and taped it to the back cover of her phone. Whenever he
called, she’d turn her phone over and begin to read over the list. It helped
her resist the temptation to answer the phone.
Self-discipline is like a muscle. Each time you delay gratification and make a healthy choice, you grow mentally stronger.
