Everybody likes to say how important it is that we learn from our mistakes. But isn’t the best evidence of learning the fact that we get the answers right, not wrong? Isn’t a wrong answer worthless? After all, we don’t get any points for it.
Well, Carl Jung said that “Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not.”
Have you ever considered that your mistakes—on homework, an exam, in class—are actually an “increase in knowledge?” Sure, knowing that 2+2 does not equal 5 is not the same as knowing that it does equal 4. But it is still knowing.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. As long as we understand that our error—properly recognized as an error—is still an opportunity to get closer to the truth, then we will have learned from our mistakes.
Thomas Edison, the great scientist and inventor, declared:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Learn from your mistakes today…
And have a wonderful day.
