Making mistakes is very hard to live with, because it makes us feel guilty and ashamed. And it can completely destroy our morale and self-confidence. So how can we learn from our mistakes? Is it possible to avoid making them again? Here are 4 valuable tips.

1 – Daily introspection

First of all, to learn from your mistakes, you need to be aware of them.

All too often, we don’t dare look ourselves in the face, and sometimes we even go so far as to act in bad faith to avoid taking one of our mistakes upon ourselves.

So it’s time to get into the habit of a little daily introspection.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

“How did my day go? Are there things I regret or would have liked to have done better? Did I behave in a way that I could go back and change in the future? Did I make a mistake?

So, maybe you’re reading this article because you’ve just made a mistake and you’re really angry about it, and maybe you’re ashamed too.

That said, it’s because you haven’t got into the habit of doing a little introspection that as soon as you make a mistake, it takes on impossible proportions.

It’s time to realize that you make mistakes every day. Some bigger, some smaller, some more serious.

And it’s by getting used to being aware of them that you’ll become more and more comfortable with the idea of learning from your mistakes.

So, every night, I invite you to introspect.

Personally, I do this at the end of my working day, and sometimes I do a second one just before going to bed.

In fact, doing this introspection allows us to get the most out of each day, so that we can improve ourselves and make our lives better the next day.

2 – Don’t be in a control posture and learn from your mistakes

The problem is that when we talk about learning from our mistakes, we tend to adopt a posture of control. In other words, we become aware of our mistakes, but we don’t accept them.

Yes, we don’t accept that we’ve made mistakes, so we feel guilt, shame, sometimes even anger at ourselves.

And that’s not how we learn. Quite the opposite, in fact.

So, to learn from our mistakes, we need to change our posture. Replace our need for control, perfectionism and criticism with curiosity.

Curiosity about ourselves, but also about our mistakes and what they can bring us.

Indeed, it’s time to let go of this belief that pollutes our lives, because it tells us that we have to be perfect.

We don’t!

And we need to let go of this fear that leads us to believe that if we don’t want to be perfect, we’ll become failures.

That’s not true either!

So, to learn from your mistakes, don’t be in control of yourself. Take a breath and look at things with a much more curious eye.

To do this, ask yourself, “Why did I make this mistake?”

And, no longer ask yourself, “How could I have made this mistake?”

Can you see the difference?

3 – Make commitments to learn from your mistakes

Learning from your mistakes doesn’t just mean becoming aware of them, it also means making commitments.

In other words, we’re going to look for solutions so that we don’t make the same mistakes again in the same situations.

The problem is that we tend to take our commitments lightly.

In fact, we’re far too quick to do so. As if it were a matter of course.

“Yes, okay. Next time, I won’t get angry.”

But what really happens next time? We get angry again.

So how can we really learn from our mistakes and avoid making them again?

For that, I invite you to write down your commitments. Personally, I write them down on a note in my phone, because it’s so practical.

So, on this note, write down clearly the commitments you wish to make.

I invite you to write down 2-3, but you can go up to 5. The problem is that the more you have, the more you run the risk of forgetting them and therefore not applying them.

In other words, you won’t learn from your mistakes.

Re-read that note on your phone every day, and even several times a day. That way, you’ll have your commitments clearly in mind and you’ll finally be able to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

4 – Taking the high road

I also think it’s important to tell you that there comes a time when you have to let yourself go, in other words, relax.

After all, you make mistakes, and that’s normal.

But that doesn’t mean you have to let yourself go and become a person whose company becomes more and more detestable.

But it also means not being constantly on your guard and constantly striving to do better.

In fact, you need to relax. You need to allow yourself some freedom in your mistakes.

To do this, find the happy medium.

Because the goal in this life is not to become a perfect person, that’s not possible.

Your goal in life is to be happy.

And so there are mistakes that are important lessons for building a happy and successful life, and others that are much less so.

In other words, only give importance to important mistakes.

What do you think?

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover I’m unhappy: 6 mistakes we all make and how to free ourselves from them
Discover How to free yourself from regret: 4 great tips

I recommend this inspiring book:

Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed

The author explores the importance of learning from mistakes and failures. Drawing on a variety of fields, including aviation and healthcare, Syed emphasizes the concept of the black box mentality, where mistakes are seen as opportunities for improvement rather than failures to be covered up. The book emphasizes the power of a growth mindset, encouraging individuals and organizations to accept mistakes, analyze them openly and use the lessons learned to innovate and improve. Black Box Thinking provides a compelling argument for cultivating a culture that values learning from mistakes as a crucial path to success.

This is a fascinating and thought-provoking study of failure that emphasizes the enigmatic importance of understanding that mistakes foster progress.
What a book! Congratulations to the author for this fascinating book. From my point of view, many of the approaches explained in the book are truly game-changing.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself