“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.”
Morihei Ueshiba
There is this theme I am noticing lately in schools, on the field and around town – it is: mistakes are good! Mistakes mean we are learning! Mistakes will happen! Mistakes mean the brain will change!
But, are we all really so comfortable with mistakes?? Who wants to make a mistake? Making mistakes or at least admitting to a mistake (being wrong) opens a person up to a sense of vulnerability!! Being self aware enough to say “oops I messed up” can be challenging.
Until recently, I’m not sure I bought into making mistakes as a positive– as a “recovering perfectionist” (Brene Brown, Daring Greatly) I can sway over to the unrealistic perfectionism side. When I was growing up I don’t think I ever felt like making a mistake in the classroom meant I was learning – I had the opposite experience. Mistakes meant you did not know the answers! Mistakes meant you were not smart! Mistakes meant you messed up! Mistakes were wrong!
Recently I have noticed a theme at schools; teachers are saying YES to mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities; where the learning happens! My interpretation: my children need to take risks, ask questions and make mistakes. These mistakes will allow educational growth to occur and pave the way for future learnings! If my kids make mistakes and reflect on such mistakes (develop strategies, rethink, etc.), they will be successful.
Maybe I should not worry as much about the end result (report cards), but more about the process? I do believe colleges are worried about the end results! Yikes! Are the admissions offices at major universities aware of these learning mistakes? Maybe mistakes are simply graded too? A mistakes, B mistakes, C mistakes????
We must make our own mistakes! Right? It does not matter who you know and the mistakes those people made; we make our own mistakes and live our own mistakes! Mistakes make sense; they keep us going, make us smarter and prove we are HUMAN. Being human equals mistakes.
I must be really smart, because I make a lot of mistakes. It is humbling to say to your children – “well that did not work; sorry guys!!” In my world, mistakes demand forgiveness.
Mistakes in the classroom, at work, on the field and in our day to day lives are going to happen! What counts, is how we grow and learn from our mistakes! That is the challenge!
