How to learn from mistakes: 9 effective tips

Mistakes are part of life, no one is completely safe from them. In fact, they play a fundamental role when it comes to personal human growth.

If it weren't for the mistakes we sometimes make, we wouldn't be able to learn from them so that we can correct them later.

In this article we will see a list of tips on how to learn from mistakes. Let's start with the basics.

• Related article: "Personal Development: 5 reasons for self-reflection

What exactly are errors?

The term error refers to the action of having done something in the wrong way, or some reckless action that generates uncomfortable moments.

The errors have in common that are accidental, involuntary; that is, you could never make a mistake voluntarily, that would turn out to be a paradox.

The other common aspect of errors, and the most important, is that behind each of them the opportunity to gain valuable learning is hiddenBy internalizing why we have made a mistake, we will be able to grow as people and nourish ourselves from the mistake so as not to commit it again, in the future.

Tips on how to learn from mistakes

We will now review some efficient ways to learn from mistakes, properly internalizing experiences.

1. Change your perception of mistakes

Once you start to see mistakes as opportunities and not failures, you will be able to learn from them in the best possible way. Sometimes a change in perspective is enough to significantly improve your quality of life.

In this sense, the most useful thing is to aim to draw a lesson about what we can do in the future to that things go better for us in situations similar to those that have happened to us and before which we have wrong.

2. Keep an emotion diary

To learn from your mistakes it is necessary to become aware of how we react emotionally to them. To achieve this, it is very useful to keep an emotions diary.

It is a small notebook in which you can write down in real time how you feel and what you think in the moments in which you experience emotions in a more intense way. In this way you will learn the generalities that occur in your way of expressing those feelings and affective states.

3. Don't let anxiety win you over

Anxiety is reflected in the fear that we can have before mistakes, that is, when before starting an activity fear paralyzes us and prevents us from doing it.

To avoid this, the ideal is to understand that things do not necessarily have to go wrong just for the fact of thinking that they will. Thoughts do not always determine actions.

Remember that feeling fear is natural, do not allow that to paralyze you, trust in your abilities and carry out activities as you know how to do them, even if it is not free of imperfections.

• You may be interested: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

4. Regulates the level of self-demand

This point refers to the fact that sometimes being overly perfectionists can lead to a distorted view of our propensity to do things wrong, and it does not allow us to learn from our mistakes.

When we have an attitude of extreme perfectionism, we do not tolerate mistakes, and as a consequence of this behavior we avoid thinking about these activities.

This is one of the tips to learn from the most complex mistakes, since it is not always easy to stop feeling uneasy at the idea of ​​creating something with certain defects.

5. Employ the new learnings

Using the knowledge that we have acquired from our past mistakes is a way of learning how we can improve, and we could also continue learning. It is like a ladder, as we go up one step we must go up the others little by little, learning something new each time we take a step.

6. Focus on the present

One of the main limitations of learning is staying anchored in the past. We must change the classic thinking that if we made mistakes in the past, we will do it again in the present.

That thinking must be replaced by a more adaptive one. For example, the ideal is to think that if we did not do well in the past, we will do better this time, with the new learning that we have acquired.

7. Avoid acting rashly

Acting hastily can lead us to make mistakes, and apart from that, it hinders the process of learning from said mistake, taking into account that when we act in this way we do not have time to adequately assess the reasons that led us to make the mistake.

8. Be self-critical

Healthy self-criticism is essential to learn from our mistakes. When we use self-criticism, we are in some way making an objective evaluation of our own person; of our virtues and also of our points to correct.

9. Take into account the opinions

Sometimes, from the perspective of other people we can understand more adequately what are the aspects to improve ourselves. The opinions of others help us evaluate ourselves.

These opinions serve as a point of comparison between what we think and what others think about our experience. The ideal is to be tolerant and know how to accept that the ideas that others have about what we do do not have to be always positive. That way we can get a more complete learning about our past mistakes.

Bibliographic references:

• Ayduk, O.; Gyurak, A.; Luerssen, A. (2009). Rejection sensitivity moderates the impact of rejection on self-concept clarity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 35 (11): 1467 - 1478.
• Farnham-Diggory, S. (2004) Learning Difficulties. Madrid. Morata Editions.
• Ross, M.; Wilson, A.E. (2002). It feels like yesterday: self-esteem, valence of personal past experiences, and judgments of subjective distance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 82 (5): 792 - 803.