Enjoy Your Mistakes

Nobody is born perfect and nobody dies being a perfectionist. The explanation remains the same for the entire period in one’s life i.e nobody lives a complete flawless life throughout. Why worry or stress so much about making an error is a question here. We cannot deny the fact, that most of us avoid or delay doing things, which are meant to be done out of desire, in the fear or self-doubt of making mistakes. This is important for all of us to know, that it is ‘not’ possible most of the time to get through any task or activity completely error-free. So, embrace your mistakes.

When I say enjoy your mistakes, it gives a feeling of accepting blunders enthusiastically which opens up a scope of improvement. To be honest, I never liked the phrase ‘learn from your mistakes to me it always sounded like a lecture, so I avoid it using it here, but both phrases give us the same meaning which is, doing things in a better way or in an improved manner once we are aware of the fault.

Give this a thought, wouldn’t it be a monotonous feeling to achieve everything without any hassle. Yes, it might be a great experience, but we might miss the fun of experimentation, the fun of understanding things from a different perspective, the curiosity of finding new ways to do a task. Mistakes add a bit of spice in things we do, a bit of challenging feel in things we do, and help us in finding a new approach to do things, eventually giving us all better results. How would we ever know what is right for us if we never start it in the first place just because of an uneasy thought of drawing criticism? Life throws unexpected turns at all of us. Changes are bound to happen and so are the mistakes. Be open to it and accept the same. Take every lesson as a blessing, as a second chance to an opportunity.

Have you ever passed an examination in academics without making mistakes? Were you able to excel in your favorite sport without making blunders?

Mistake + correction = learning

An impressive quote by an American minister and author kept lingering in my mind every time I had planned to do something new or tried making a different approach. It says ‘The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism’. The mentioned quote says it all. Somewhere deep inside, we avoid doing things because of the thought that they might draw criticism if not done perfectly. None of us likes criticism but then I would like to repeat here again what I had mentioned at the beginning of this article ‘Nobody is born perfect and nobody dies being a perfectionist. Trust me on this, people won’t remember in due course of time, that how many times we failed, once the end result that is achieved is ‘fruitful’ or ‘sorted’. The end result would definitely be appreciated, the same end result which is carved out of learnings from our mistakes. So, instead of taking blunders as a burden, enjoy it, who knows it might turn into a memory that may bring a smile to your face when looked back on. I believe that every new invention was initially a series of blunders. A butterfly -to grow into an adult go through 4 stages and each stage has a different goal and then jumps to the next stage. Consider the learnings in the same way. Each time, a correction made to a miscalculation, inaccuracy, or error would take you to the next stage and eventually to the end result. We might get a chance to build something better every time.

I would like to mention below a few quotes that clearly define there is a thrill involved in learning from our mistakes.

Steve jobs: Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

Soichiro Honda: My biggest thrill is when I plan something and it fails. My mind is then filled with ideas on how I can improve it”.

Dale Carnegie: The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

To all the lovely people reading this article, let us make a promise to ourselves today: the idea to start anything new which is on the pending list of yours, try giving it a shot without bothering too much about perfectionism.

Stay connected,
Nikita Kohli