Friday, March 12, 2010
It’s Hard to Learn From Your Own Mistakes
Productivity501: "Failure gives you a chance to learn. When you make a mistake you can learn from that mistake and not make it again. Right? Well, yes, in theory. The problem with this approach is that failure triggers strong emotions and makes it very difficult to focus on the cause of the failure."
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8 comments:
The author makes an interesting point that, though in theory mistakes are one of the best forms of learning, we are often too absorbed in the emotional impact of our mistakes to learn from them in a rational manner. Probably the best way to avoid this is to look at data and objective evidence to help understand what is happening. I also like his suggestion to ask other people about the events to get other opinions that will be less absorbed in the emotional impact. This impacts me in an interesting way such that I over-react to mistakes and so, the next time I am faced with the same issue, I tend to over compensate and go too far in the opposite direction which may cause me to make another mistake.
Even though this article is totally true in that when you fail, it's really difficult to be objective about identifying your mistakes and furthermore, critical of yourself. I think the last thing that you should do is look to numbers to quantify and explain your "failures" especially if you are classifying your work a failure fully because of a grade. The whole system on classifying people based on grades, scores and statistics is never going to be without flaw and the best way to learn from failure is to evaluate yourself on a really critical level void of numbers and more based on the personal goal you set for yourself as maybe a worker, or student, etc. because you yourself are going to be most familiar with your capabilities.
This is an article that I think a lot more people should read. It is true in so many circumstances. I find that usually the best way to get a better view of whats going on is to hear the viewpoint from an unbiased third party. The only problem with that is to find someone that will actually tell you what they really think and be honest in their evaluation. While that isn't a conclusive solution, often times it helps to see what you did wrong.
There are some really good points made in this article. I definitely agree with the author that you should look back on past failures, because it's easier to be objective about things you are more detached from. I also agree that it's good to ask people about your performance in whatever it was that you failed at. As much as some people say that they can look at themselves objectively, I don't actually think it's possible, and I think it's important to find out how other people viewed your performance.
Another thing I find interesting is the list of reasons that you may have been fired. I find it really interesting that one of the things on the list is that you don't have a relationship with your boss. I think that it's important to build a relationship with your boss, not just because you may be more easily fired if you don't, but because it makes working a much easier and more enjoyable experience.
This is way easier said than done, and I haven't mastered it by any means...but I really think people in this industry...actually scratch that, any competitive industry, need to go through some behavioral modification. You really need to develop some thick skin and not let failure bother you too much. I'm laughing as I think about this, but it should bother you JUST the right amount so that you care, and you won't make the same mistakes, but not so much that it bogs you down. I think everyone went through similar experiences either over summers or in high school, but I had a director who was really demanding, and not always rational about what she asked of me. And once I figured out that life would be easier if I just took what she said with a straight face, instead of crying about it for an hour after rehearsal every night, my confidence grew and I would start working a lot harder because I was focused on getting better and adapting to her demands. It's something I always try to remember because it's really how I want to live the rest of my life. Take criticism and failure with the good, and stow them away as lessons for the future, but never let them get to you. It's just something everyone has to get used to.
This article has some very good points. While we're always told that failure is a learning experience, and something that is expected within our lives, it is often difficult to learn from these expereinces. The author provides some good points. I've looked back at various issues I had early in high school, and having some distance from them (and having a little more experience in general) helps to provide a different perspective, and allow you to look at a situation differently. Getting an honest opinion and different perspective from somebody else can also be helpful. While failure can be a good learning experience, a lot of the time, it's a lot harder than it seems to try to take the good from that failure or figure out what went wrong.
It's definitely a lot easier to learn from other people's mistakes, which are a lot less emotionally damaging to YOU, than your own mistakes. This is why it makes sense, as the writer suggested, to ask other people how they viewed the situation--you will get a much more objective interpretation of your failure.
Even though this article does make a good point that the emotional effects of making a mistake could hinder the learning, I believe that it is still the best form of learning. The emotional aspects of the detriment only add to the desire to improve. At least this is the ideal. If you start from a place where you take any sort of mistakes and see them as all negative, there is no way that you would be able to learn from them.
While this might sound ideal, it should really be strived for in any situation. I believe that people should always be frank with each other and that “beating around the bush” is not good for anyone. If people are not honest with their opinions, and if people are not able to accept the honest feedback, then there is not even any hope of improvement.
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