I’ve always had a weird resistance come up when someone says, “Mistakes are good. You can learn from them”.
Not that I do not embrace learning. I am an avid reader and Googler. I have a strong curiosity and desire to understand things. I am not afraid of learning. In fact, I carve it.
So why would I feel this clenching in my stomach when I considered learning from my mistakes? Am I afraid to be wrong? Am I being controlling? Do I have a fear of failing? Am I afraid to look bad to others?
It wasn’t until I read a simple phrase in a book that I fully understood where my weird resistance was coming from.
The Phrase That Pays
The phrase was just two simple words: Experience Learning
I realized that the reason I never liked the idea that I should be learning from my mistakes was because I somehow felt I was setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy – a bad cycle of having to make continual mistakes in order to learn and grow.
By approaching each day with the feeling that I am experiencing learning means that I can make mistakes as part of the process of growing versus waiting for the mistakes to occur in order to learn and grow from them.
It might seem like a subtle shift but, for me, it has made a ton of difference. The idea that I can live every day from a place that I am experiencing learning feels like freedom.
- I feel less afraid to take risks because the risk is an opportunity to experience learning.
- I feel excited about making mistakes because they are part of the process of experiencing learning.
- There is no guilt and shame in the process of experiencing learning.
Must-Watch Video
Experiential Learning: How We All Learn Naturally
