Do We Need To Make Mistakes?

A good buddy of mine told me many, many times that he had to make mistakes to learn. He went on and told me, "We all need to make big mistakes so we can become better." He usually pontificated that point shortly after he failed at something, vowing he would never make that mistake again. And sometimes, he lived up to that promise.

I think our approach toward mistakes should be this:

1) Always own up to and learn from your mistakes so you never repeat them.
But even better:
2) Learn from other people's mistakes so you don't make the same ones they did.

It's not magic or some top-secret thing--we can learn from others (both the good and the not-so-good) every minute of the day by observing, reading, listening and asking questions.

It comes down to being a student--of yourself and of others. Mistakes happen every day and we will all make them. But if you can learn from others and avoid a mistake they've made, why not do that?

It's great to learn from your mistakes. It's even better to never have made that mistake in the first place.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com