Past Errors and Failed Attempts

Past Errors and Failed Attempts

Not only are past errors and failed attempts a significant contributing factor to which we are all subject, but also in turn they have the potential to seriously demoralise us in that of our own experiences.

Nobody is flawless, and we most definitely aren’t born knowing how the world works.

With that in mind, it is only natural that we experience failure and make mistakes while learning.

The path of nature is to attempt, to fail, to adjust and tweak and to have another go.

Trial and Error

Birds learn to fly in the same manner toddlers learn to walk.

As a toddler you undoubtedly learned how to pull yourself up to a standing position using a table or chair.  After which, for whatever reason you put one foot in front of the other.

You’d take one step or two ok.

What came next was likely to be a fall.  After the fall, and perhaps striking your head on a table or chair or just screaming on the floor, you tried again.

In what way did your parents react?

Did they scold you saying you failed or give you the tut tut look, and the encouragement that you can do this.

Most parents hug and assist their child in rising so that they can consider what went wrong.

When you were younger, you never considered this to be absurd, you just kept going until you could walk.

Errors indicate growth.

If there is no friction, there is no heat.  Similarly, timber becomes stronger in harsh weather conditions.

Either we view mistakes as a set back, or take our past errors and failed attempts as a teaching opportunity, a test or a warning.

In reality our attitude tends to recondition us to saying either ‘I can’ or ‘I can’t’ before we even attempt something.

Nobody actually enjoys failing.

However, it happens so frequently that you’d think some people could find it enjoyable to reflect up on and relive the blunders.  Although, it shouldn’t matter much when you’re doing something and fail to finish it, which is an all too common event.

Trial and error has led to the greatest achievements know to mankind, which have been achieved by individuals who dared to fall numerous times.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

Ultimately failure only has relevance when the lesson has been internalised to the point where it prevents growth.