When Edison made a working light bulb for the first time, he told a journalist that of the 250 experimental light bulbs he had made before, not a single one had worked: “From every mistake I learned something that I could take into account in the next attempt.” Everyone knows today that without mistakes there is no development, no learning. One of the most famous examples of this is surely the adhesive of the 3M post-it notes, which was born from the failed search for a high-performance adhesive. As Goethe puts it, “Stumbling promotes.”
Misadventures should be celebrated
It may be that such a gait lacks grace. But nature makes leaps, too. And without a chaotic component, there is no self-organization. Someone who sees it this way always wins: if he succeeds, he gains self-affirmation, courage, and energy. If he experiences defeat, he gains life experience and stimulation for better ideas. What’s more, you should actually celebrate your personal failures, because they bring excitement into your life and show that you are in a process of growth – according to the motto “Celebrate your mistakes. Only obstacles, resistances – whether you take them at the first or the third attempt – bring us forward. Detours increase local knowledge.
Mistakes cannot be deliberately manufactured
Mistakes are necessary to break new ground. Which is not to say that making the same mistake multiple times is intelligent. The graffito says, “It’s not bad to make a mistake. It’s only bad to make a mistake twice.” Mistakes happen. To you, to me, to everyone. More or less frequently. Strictly speaking, then, no reason to accuse anyone or even to be disgruntled. This is not an attitude of indifference, but recognition of the simple fact that mistakes happen and cannot be made consciously.
Dealing with mistakes – a few important tips
- See mistakes as progress. Every mistake you make is an opportunity to develop and work on yourself and your strategies.
- Own up to your mistakes! Admit mistakes to yourself and others early on. This openness and honesty requires a certain amount of courage, but the long-term benefits are much greater.
- Set yourself a mistake diary to get the most out of your mistakes.
- Learn from the mistakes of others, because you do not have to make every mistake yourself to learn from it.
