Mistakes are painful when they happen. But a few years later a collection of mistakes becomes experience – which leads to success.
How true is above statement!!
A specialist in vocational rehabilitation once said to me, “In the schools you go to as a child you sit in classes where first you learn the lesson, then you take the test. In the school of life it is the opposite. First you take the test, then you learn the lesson.”
He is right.
The question is, How does a person or an organization learn from experience?
I have learned a lot from my mistakes in personal as well in professisonal life. Here I am tryimg to share a few tips, I used to learn from my experiences :
- Reflect on the experience; replay it in your mind as an observer.
- Avoid explanations that either justify or condemn what happened. You don’t learn when you rationalize, justify, or criticize what you have done. (Managers thwart learning when they blame a person or group for mistakes.)
- Describe the experience. Tell a friend. Write about it in a journal.
- If you are upset, express your feelings. Clear your emotions.
- Ask yourself what you can learn from the experience. If such a thing were to happen again, what would you do next time?
- Imagine talking or acting in a more effective way next time.
- Rehearse doing it the way you desire.
- Take some time to reflect about something difficult that you went through, such as a major conflict at work or a big bad decision you made in your life.
- Decide what to do and not do the next time.
When you process experiences in this way, you will increase your self-confidence for handling similar situations better in the future.
Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones. Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.
Let us Grow Together 