I just read an article about a father who asked his daughter every day what mistakes she had made. He responded with pleasure as she told him, because he thought it was essential to make mistakes in order to learn the difficult parts of life. That story reminded me of Miss Frizzle, a teacher on an animated TV show (The Magic School Bus) who encouraged her students to “get dirty and make mistakes.” Learning requires doing, and doing involves mistakes.
What mistakes have I made today? I was not sitting with proper posture when I typed that question. Now I am. I told our administrative assistant a short while ago that I would burn into my mind a 4-digit phone number I heard, but I actually forgot it immediately. Fortunately, she wrote down the number. That’s it so far today. I clearly need to do more so I can make a greater number of mistakes and more important mistakes. I am writing this blog entry now — that’s good. I could make typographical errors, be boring, have no point to make.
Here is my point: Mistakes have value. We can learn a great deal from mistakes. Moreover, making mistakes means we are doing something challenging or working fast or at least doing SOMETHING. Dead people make no mistakes. So celebrate a little when you make a mistake. Or your child does. Or your employee.
What is the psychological value of taking a positive perspective on making mistakes? With a positive perspective, we might take on tougher challenges, worry less, and enjoy life more.
What mistakes have you made today? Could you make more?
Read my blog entry about BIG mistakes at https://blog.une.edu.au/usingpsychology/2011/02/01/making-mistakes/.
BTW, what happened to the girl whose dad wanted her to make mistakes? She is now national head of Planned Parenthood in the U.S.
John Malouff, PhD, JD
Assoc Prof of Psychology
Mistakes, bring them on … how bizarre would it be if we had complete competence … one of my daughter’s has learned the value of mistakes to correct her circus routines … a bit of a perfectionist, she has been able to accommodate to a routine with room for improvement, due to mistakes … rather than a routine that was “no good”. It has allowed her to aim for perfection, strive for excellence in performance, if possible, and when not (which is often enough), utilise the “mistakes” to improve the striving for excellence.
As for me, today I was studying … just did a quick sample test, got 72/100, thought about the mistakes, spent a few minutes looking at those areas with problems, and took it again 100/100. Most importantly, my “mistakes” provided information, so I could hone my skills … if I’d got 100 first time around … the test would have been too easy … I”ll get back to studying now …
I’m with you, MS. Mistakes help us learn.
I don’t want to make mistakes when it matters most, especially in an exam. But mistakes will always happen whether you are young or old. No one is perfect.
Hi Aisake. Mistakes can cause problems. They can also create learning opportunities. Like you, I prefer to make minor errors.
Not sure how many mistakes I’ve made today, but am heading into an Abnormal Psych exam this afternoon where I’m sure I’ll make a few…though I may never know what they are…
Hello NW. After I took exams, in my student days, I would look up the correct answer to questions I thought I might have missed. I did that out of curiousity, but now I realize that was another chance in that unit for me to learn something. Learning from mistakes helps them have practical value.