Last update: December 21, 2016
That we learn from mistakes is an almost absolute truth, especially if we observe constantly and if we are analytical and intuitive. For this reason, it is said that once the teaching derived from a mistake is acquired, it will be difficult to make it again.
In this sense, it seems pretty simple if we made the mistake. However, what happens when it comes to the mistakes of others? Life is limited in duration and we don't have enough time to make mistakes many times. So why not focus on the mistakes others make to avoid them? It is not just a matter of time, it is in this way we will also avoid suffering from the negative consequences of the mistake.
The mistakes we don't learn from are mistakes that repeat themselves
From birth, we begin to realize that failure is a way to find success in the medium and long term. The first few years we make mistakes all the time, but in the long run we reap the fruits of those failures, fruits that have a more intense and lasting flavor. As you grow up, the consequences become more complicated, which does not mean that the process becomes completely invalid.
These consequences are also linked to the positive side that we can extrapolate from the events. The mistakes with the most negative consequences are usually also those that have the greatest transformative power. Let's not forget that the very process of suffering the consequences of a mistake can also be a great learning, not just a failure in itself.
“Mistakes - he said emphatically - even those matter to me. I don't delete them from my memory or from my life. And I never blame others for my mistakes ”.
-Andrzej Sapkowski-
We learn to keep bad experiences in the box labeled “don't repeat”. However, these erroneous ways of acting sometimes, thankfully, escape this box: that they didn't work in some circumstances doesn't mean they didn't work in others. Maybe at 18 we weren't ready to start our own business, but at 30 we could be. In our life path we will have experienced and learned from our successes and from the mistakes that our leaders have made.
Being awake is a weapon
It is said that people can be divided into three large groups: those who assimilate their own mistakes, those who, in addition to their own, also assimilate those of others, and the latter who do neither.
It would be good to belong to the second group, mainly because doing so reduces the probability of falling into a well in order to ascertain its existence. Being awake dahead of what happens around us is a weapon to dodge injuries that we can avoid.
"Because we are all made of what led us to error, and the bond of error is sometimes stronger than any other."
-Belén Gopegui-
We learn from others through concrete events without having to try them on our skin. From an external point of view, we will be able to approach them with empathy and humility, without judging or criticizing. In the same way, we can do it with sensibility and caution, also reflecting on the possible consequences that could have arisen from the realization of other choices.
There is always something new to learn
However, what are the other reasons to focus on other people's behaviors? Perhaps most important of all is that there is always something new to learn. For this reason, life always offers us the opportunity to learn new things.
It is an opportunity that is part of the gift that is life. Moreover, beyond the pleasure it brings us and that only some have discovered, it is also a pragmatic and intelligent attitude. It may not eliminate the thorns from our path, but we will be able to locate some and thus avoid them.
"We all must continually learn to unlearn much of what we have learned, and to learn that we have not been prepared"
-Ronald Laing-
For this reason, it is essential to belong to the group of wise men who take advantage of all the good that life has prepared for us. Living as someone who pays no attention to their own mistakes or those of others means not living intelligently.
