How to Learn from Mistakes: 9 Effective Tips

Tips on how to take advantage of mistakes and let them drive our learning to improve.

Mistakes are part of lifeNo one is completely safe from them. In fact, they play a fundamental role in human personal growth.

If it were not for the mistakes we sometimes make, we would not be able to learn from them in order to correct them later.

In this article we will see a list of tips on how to learn from mistakes.. Let's start with the basics.

What exactly are mistakes?

The term error refers to the action of having done something in the wrong way, or some imprudent action that generates uncomfortable moments.

Mistakes have in common that they are accidental, involuntaryThat is to say, one could never make a mistake voluntarily, that would be a paradox.

The other common aspect of mistakes, and the most important one, is that behind each one of them lies the opportunity to achieve valuable learning. is the opportunity to achieve valuable learning by internalizing why we have made a mistake.By internalizing why we have made a mistake, we can grow as people and nourish ourselves from the mistake so that we do not make it again in the future.

Tips on how to learn from mistakes

Now we will review some efficient ways to learn from mistakes, properly internalizing the experiences.

1. Change the way you perceive mistakes

Once you begin to see mistakes as opportunities rather than failures, you can learn from them in the best way possible.Once you begin to see mistakes as opportunities rather than failures, you can learn from them in the best possible way. Sometimes a change of perspective is enough to significantly improve your quality of life.

In this sense, the most useful thing to do is to set as an objective to draw a lesson about what we can do in the future to make things go better in situations similar to those that have happened to us and in which we have made mistakes.

2. Keep a diary of emotions

To learn from your mistakes it is necessary to become aware of how you react emotionally to them.. To achieve this, it is very useful to keep a diary of emotions.

It is a small notebook in which you can write down in real time how you feel and what you think in the moments in which you experience emotions in a more intense way. In this way you will learn the generalities that occur in your way of expressing those feelings and affective states.

3. Don't let anxiety get the better of you.

Anxiety is reflected in the fear that we can get to have before the mistakes.That is to say, when before starting an activity, fear paralyzes us and prevents us from doing it.

To avoid this, the ideal is to understand that things do not necessarily have to go wrong just because we think they will. Thoughts do not always determine actions.

Remember that feeling fear is natural, do not let it paralyze you, trust in your abilities and perform activities as you know how to do them, even if it is not free of imperfections.

4. Regulate the level of self-demanding

This point refers to the fact that sometimes being too perfectionist can lead us to a distorted vision of our propensity to do things wrong, and does not allow us to get things right.and does not allow us to learn from our mistakes.

When we have an attitude of extreme perfectionism, we do not tolerate mistakes, and as a consequence of this behavior we avoid thinking about these activities.

This is one of the most complex tips for learning from mistakes, since it is not always easy to stop feeling discomfort at the idea of creating something with certain defects.

5. Use the new learning

Using the knowledge we have gained from our past mistakes is a way to learn how we can improve, and we could also continue learning. It is like a staircase, as we climb one step we must gradually climb the others, learning something new each time we take a step.

6. Focus on the present

One of the main limitations of learning is to remain anchored to the past. We must change the classic thought that if we made a mistake in the past, we will make the same mistake again in the present..

That thinking should be replaced by a more adaptive one. For example, the ideal is to think that if we did not do well in the past, we will do better this time, with the new learning we have acquired.

7. Avoid acting rashly

Acting hastily can lead us to make mistakes, and apart from that, it hinders the process of learning from that mistake, taking into account that when we act in this way we do not have time to properly evaluate the reasons that led us to make the mistake..

8. Be self-critical

Healthy self-criticism is essential to learn from our mistakes. When we use self-criticism, we are in a way making an objective evaluation of our own person; of our virtues and also of our points to correct..

9. Take opinions into account

Sometimes, from other people's perspective we can understand more adequately what are the aspects we need to improve in ourselves. The opinions of others help us to evaluate ourselves.

These opinions serve as a point of comparison between what we think and what others think about our experience. The ideal is to be tolerant and to know how to accept that the ideas that others have about what we do do do not always have to be positive. In that way we will be able to gain a more complete learning regarding our past mistakes.

Bibliographical references:

• Ayduk, O.; Gyurak, A.; Luerssen, A. (2009). Rejection sensitivity moderates the impact of rejection on self-concept clarity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 35 (11): 1467 - 1478.
• Farnham-Diggory, S. (2004) Learning Difficulties. Madrid. Ediciones Morata.
• Ross, M.; Wilson, A.E. (2002). It feels like yesterday: self-esteem, valence of personal past experiences, and judgments of subjective distance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 82 (5): 792 - 803.