One of the main problems in our societal and school systems is its tendency to look down on making mistakes as something bad. We punish people for making mistakes. Therefore, we have detentions, fines, mental institutions and prisons to regulate people from making mistakes. What’s ironic is the more of these punishment systems exists, the more people commit mistakes.
People in this society tend to live in fear of punishment than motivated to take calculated risks which is very important in living a quality life. I’m not saying that we should remove all these systems because, yes, these systems are very important in maintaining peace and order in our society. But what I would like to express is the fact that society tends to only punish or look down on people who commits mistakes and does nothing after that. As I see it, punishing or looking down for the sake of doing so on people who commits mistakes is not an effective way in creating a progressive society. I believe what’s more important is to learn from these mistakes. In fact, it’s normal to make mistakes but a lot of us tend to look at it as something to avoid at all cost.
It’s normal for us humans to make mistakes. What’s important, though, is to learn from these mistakes because, by doing so, we’re able to avoid making the same mistakes and will be in the position to progress in life. The problem with school is that it punishes people from making mistakes. But in reality, making mistakes and learning from them is one of the key ingredients of success. In school, you succeed by being Mr. or Ms. Perfect but in the real world you succeed by your ability to make mistakes and to learn from these mistakes. If you don’t believe me on this one just look at the track record of people who are truly successful and significant in life. In the surface, you may see these people as perfect but if you look closely with the way they live life and their history you’ll be able to realize that these people are big “failures.” Do you believe we’ll have lights today if Thomas Edison didn’t create about 10,000 mistakes in finally creating the perfect light bulb? Do you think Robert Kiyosaki, a world renowned financial educator and book author of bestsellers, be in the position he’s in if he didn’t flunk his English classes in high school? Do you think Jesus Christ could have communicated the love of God to the world if he didn’t “fail” by being crucified in the cross?
The difference between those who don’t succeed in life and those who succeed is how they see and handle mistakes. Losers either avoid making mistakes or keep making the same mistakes again and again without learning. While winners, on the other hand, see mistakes as an opportunity to grow. They learn from their mistakes and are motivated to move forward knowing that they are a step closer to where they want to be in life.
If you really think about it, will we really be in the society we live now if it weren’t for the mistakes of the past made by our ancestors? Do you curse the barbaric ways of the caveman in the olden times even if it meant he was learning to be less barbaric? Are you angry with the inhumane acts during middle ages even if it means a society learns to be more humane? How can we appreciate what’s good if we don’t know or experience evil? To live in a progressive society, the making and learning of mistakes is very vital for us to evolve.
In living our personal lives, we either retrograde or progress. We cannot be stagnant but we experience either of the two. We retrograde or deteriorate if we stop challenging ourselves, taking risks and, more importantly, making and learning from mistakes. We progress if we continually look for opportunities to grow and challenge ourselves. In doing so, it’s inevitable to make mistakes. What’s important is to learn from these mistakes.
God calls each and one of us to be the best persons we can be. We cannot do that shying away from the possibility of making mistakes but by making and learning from them. God wants us to experience the fullness of life by being able to know the opposite so that we’ll be able to appreciate how good it is. As we make mistakes and learn from them, we inevitably widen our perspective on the way we live life and are able to progress which is exactly what each and one of us are meant to do in life.
Make Mistakes. Learn. Grow.
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