From the Prince George Citizen, Gerry Chidiac discusses the importance of making mistakes in the process of learning. I was particularly taken by the point that a baby learning to walk falls frequently but keeps getting up and trying again. Gerry writes:
“According to Napoleon Hill, “One of the tricks of opportunity, (is that) it has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.”
What is interesting is that small children have no issue seeing the opportunities hidden in temporary defeat. When a baby learns to walk, she normally falls down, gets back up and tries again until the task is learned. When learning to speak, children make numerous grammatical errors and eventually conquer the complexities of language.
For some reason, as we get older, we begin to think that making mistakes is a sign that we are stupid and incompetent. We are embarrassed when we do not do things perfectly, and tend to stop trying. This, unfortunately, is a recipe for failure….”
Read the full story at Every mistake a learning opportunity.
