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.
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.
Learning is a continuous process in life, and making mistakes is an important part of the learning process. When we learn new things, we tend to make mistakes, which is natural and common.
Here are four ways to learn from your mistakes:
1. TAke Responsibility for Your Failures
Before you can learn from your mistakes, you have to accept full responsibility for your mistakes. This can be difficult at times, but until you can admit your mistakes, you will not make progress. It is kind of like having a drinkling problem, but not being willing to admit that you are an alcoholic.
2. Ask Yourself Questions
While you don’t want to dwell on your mistakes, reviewing them can be productive. Ask yourself some questions:
• What did I do wrong?
• How can I correct my errors?
• What did I learn?
3. Work On A Plan
Beating yourself up for your mistakes won’t help you complete your life p[lan. It’s important to devote enough time thinking about how to do better in the future.
Develop a plan that will help you avoid making similar mistakes. Be as detailed as possible but remain flexible since your plan may need to change.
4. Make A List of Reasons Not to Repeat the Same Mistakes
Creating a list of all the reasons why you should follow your plan could help you develop self-discipline, even during the toughest times.
Sometimes, your failures are not a result of one misstep but a series of missteps that lead to failure. Pay attention to your errors, no matter how big or how small they might seem. Recognize that each mistake can act as building block in your life.
What are the biggest mistakes in life?
1. Caring too much about what other people think
2. Not accomplishing enough
3. Not telling someone how you feel
4. Failing to stand up for yourself
5. Not following your life’s deam
6. Don’t Proscrastinate life is too short
7. Working too much
8. Not enjoying life
9. Listening to everyone but yourself
10. Not taking care of yourself
11. Not taking risks
12. Worrying too much
13. Not appreciating what you have
14. Not devoting enough time to your loved ones
15. Being narcissistic
16. Not helping other people
17. Not learning from your mistakes
18. Thinking you know everything
19. Don’t bame others for being unhappy
20. Love is not the end-all-be-all. While it is great it will not solve all your problems
Learning from our mistakes
The great thing about mistakes is that everyone makes them. From your footy coach to the Australian cricket captain, no one is safe from stuffing up. The important thing is learning a lesson and trying to do better next time around.
Every so often a mistake is bigger than a quick fix, and that’s okay too. But it may also take us longer to learn from them and to change our ways. The most essential thing in these instances is accepting what’s happened and moving forward, rather than beating yourself up over it.
Accepting our mistakes
Fortunately, there are some handy tips to help us deal with screwing up.
You are not your mistake
When you make a mistake, keep in mind that it doesn’t define who you are as a person. Try not to jump to conclusions about your worth or value. No one’s perfect, and that’s okay.
Own it
Face your mistake head-on, own what happened and draw a line under it. While it can be tempting to look for an easy out – “I didn’t pass my driving test because the instructor had it in for me!” – realising you’re at fault is the first step to figuring moving forward.
The sooner you fess up, the sooner you can get yourself back on track. If you’re making excuses for yourself, you’ll probably just prolong this process.
You better recognise
If you’re confused about what you did wrong, or where the mistake was made, it can be tricky to put it in the past. Chances are it’ll still bug you big time. Try having a chat to someone else who’s involved so that you’re totally sure of what not to do next time.
Find the fix and give it a crack
Most problems have a solution, and if you’ve stuffed up, sit down and have a think about what you could do to improve the situation. You might find that you can smooth some things over and that it’s not as bad as you initially thought.
Talk it out
When you make a really big mistake, don’t feel that you have to cope with it on your own. Talk to your mates or family about it. They might just say something that sheds light on what happened and make you feel a little better.
Can’t stop dwelling on your mistakes?
If you’ve tried doing these things, and you’re having a lot of trouble accepting your mistakes and moving on, there might be something else going on at a deeper level.
Start off by having a chat with someone you trust. If you’re not sure who that might be, or what service you’re after, click through to Reach Out’s professional help portal to look at which option might suit you best. Here you can get an idea of what it’s like to get help, what steps to take and how it all works.
Make the mistake
While “there are no mistakes, only lessons” might sound like the kind of Insta-quote you scroll past every day, when you stop and think about it, the message is strong.
Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has to deal with them. It’s how you recover that comes to define you. Using the above strategies you can start to see mistakes as opportunities, a chance to pick up a little extra knowledge and improve along the way.
What steps can you take to help you make fewer mistakes in your life.
-Listen to your instincts or as Thomas Magnum said listen to your “little voice”. Learn to listen to your own consul. I devoted a whole chapter to it already, so it must be relevant.
-Take time to make your decisions. There is an old saying “haste makes waste”. This is a very good saying because it is true. Hasty decisions usually end up being poor decisions.
-You need to develop good instincts on who to devote your time too. Life is just too short to waste your time on lost causes. Some people are just bad. Once you come to grips with that you will spend a lot less time regretting your actions.
-My wife says that some things just weren’t meant to be. No amount of wishful thinking will make you taller. She is only five feet tall in case you are wondering.
-I dated a girl from Thailand for a year. We got into more arguments than I can count mainly because of our language barrier relating to the written word. She just could not express herself in English and as a result she always came out sounding cold and distant when we texted each other. Even though I knew this was an issue, it was still hard to take sometimes. It was always better when we skyped and I could hear her voice. This happens all too frequently, mainly because people have a hard time expressing themselves in the written word even when English is their dominant language. I think this is a mainly a result of a failure in our school systems. We simply do not spend enough time in learning communication skills. This is insane considering how important social interactions are to every part of our lives. We devote way too much time to allegebra and too little time in learning how to express ourselves. When I was in highschool, I had a difficult time in writing term papers. Mainly because I culd not express my ideas on paper. Who would have thought that I would eventually be writing books and producing my own blog.
Relationships are built through dynamic conversations. So make the effort to pick up the phone, and even better, meet the people you are corresponding with in person.
Remember A mistake is only a mistake if you continue to make it.