How To Learn Life Lessons from Mistakes

Life lessons usually comes from making mistakes.  Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’ll never do that again,” only to find yourself doing the exact same thing just a short time later? If so, you’re not alone. It’s likely all of us have repeated some of our mistakes at one time or another.

But making the same mistakes over and over can be costly in more ways than one. Perhaps your team has lost faith in you because your behavior doesn’t match your words. Or maybe your errors have cost you or someone else a lot of money.

The good news is you can take steps to learn from your mistakes. Then, instead of repeating them again, you’ll gain valuable wisdom that will help you in the future.

Here are five ways to learn from your mistakes:

1. Acknowledge Your Errors to Learn Life Lessons

So often, leaders say things like, “I’m sorry you felt that way,” or “It’s unfortunate it didn’t work out.” But blaming other people or minimizing your responsibility isn’t helpful to anyone.

Before you can learn a life lesson from your mistakes, you have to accept full responsibility for your role in the outcome. That can be uncomfortable sometimes, but until you can say, “I messed up,” you aren’t ready to change.

2. Ask Yourself Tough Questions to Learn Life Lessons

While you don’t want to dwell on your mistakes, reflecting on them can be productive. Ask yourself a few tough questions:

• What went wrong?

• What could I do better next time?

• What did I learn from this?

Write down your responses and you’ll see the situation a little more clearly. Seeing your answers on paper can help you learn a life lesson and think more logically about an irrational or emotional experience.

3. Make A Plan

Beating yourself up for your mistakes won’t help you down the road. It’s important to spend the bulk of your time thinking about how to do better in the future.

Make a plan that will help you avoid making a similar mistake. Be as detailed as possible but remain flexible since your plan may need to change.

Whether you find an accountability partner or you track your progress on a calendar, find a way to hold yourself accountable. Keep in mind that what works for one person might not work with someone else.

4. Make It Harder To Mess Up

Don’t depend on willpower alone to prevent you from taking an unhealthy shortcut or from giving into immediate gratification. Increase your chances of success by making it harder to mess up again.

Willpower is an ambiguous, nonspecific entity. Certainly, desire for change is important, but the “just do it” approach has no strategy to follow. You must make a strategy to follow to go along with your willpower and want for change.  Without a strategy for change, at some point, your willpower will weaken.  You will then make an excuse for falling back into old habits.  Excuses are just rationalizations for avoiding personal accountability and can become yet another obstacle to change.

5. Create A List Of Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Make The Mistake Again

Sometimes, it only takes one weak moment to indulge in something you shouldn’t. Creating a list of all the reasons why you should stay on track could help you stay self-disciplined, even during the toughest times.

I dated a woman when I was younger, I knew she wasn’t good for me, but I couldn’t bring myself to break up with her.  When she took my money and wrecked my credit, I finally broke up with her.  But, even after the break up I would still see and date her.

I know I needed to stop seeing her altogether so I created a list of all the reasons why needed to stop dating her.  She stole money from me; she used my identity and wrecked my credit: we were toxic together.  I ended up laminating the list and taped it up several places around my apartment. Whenever I felt the temptation to call or go see her, I would read the list and reinforce my willpower.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, mistakes aren’t just one big blunder. Instead, they’re a series of little choices that lead to failure.  So, pay attention to your errors, no matter how big or how small they might seem. And recognize that each mistake can be an opportunity to build mental muscle and become better.

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