Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone knows how to benefit from it.
Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has weaknesses, and one of the most important things that distinguishes people from each other is their approach to dealing with mistakes. Mistakes have an unreasonable beauty because every mistake most likely reflects something of what I'm doing wrong, and if I understood where the mistake was, I could learn how to be more successful.
Learning from mistakes: easier said than done?
According to psychologists, our brain is constantly working to maintain a positive image of ourselves, making us believe that we are doing everything as it should
A short series of steps has been developed that anyone can use with ease to analyze their mistakes and avoid committing them in the future.
The Six Questions
1. Where is the error?
When you do make a mistake, it may not be immediately clear where the mistake is. You may have a vague perception of factors contributing to the problem, but you may not see clearly the chain of events that led to the error. Write a list of the specific factors or events, as this will help you to think about the direct causes and the deep causes of the problem and determine the actions that brought the situation to its level.
2. Have you ever made similar mistakes before?
If this is the first time in 20 years that you forget to send a Christmas greeting card to your mom, your reaction to the error will be different than if you forget it nearly every year. Asking yourself this question - did you make this mistake in the past - allows you to determine the magnitude of the reaction: Do you have to confront this situation only or will you have to deal with a deeper underlying problem. If you've never forgotten your mom's birthday, ask yourself what made you forget in this situation? Maybe you had too much work that made you forget more than usual; But if this has happened repeatedly, it is better to look deeper: Are you more forgetful than usual, and can you do something to change that?
3. What is the immediate cause of the problem?
The immediate cause of the problem should then be determined. Direct causes vary from time to time and usually relate to a specific action that you did or did not do. For example, if you were not able to complete the project within the specified period, the immediate reason may be that you were not able to plan your time properly and took on you in recent weeks more duties than the situation allows.
4. What is the root cause of the problem?
After you've identified the direct cause, ask yourself if the problem has deeper foundations. Deep causes are usually more general, and can often be described as your own characteristics or personal preferences. If we go back to the example of a project that was not implemented within its deadline, the cause of the problem may be the absence of your time management skills or your tendency to accept more tasks than you are able to implement.
5. What can you do to correct the problem in the short term?
After discovering the immediate cause of the problem, try to find a solution in the short term. Prepare a specific action plan that will allow you to overcome the problem and return to the normal course as fully as possible. In the example of forgetting Christmas, a good solution might be to call your mother by phone, apologize, and send her the card even if she is late and an unusual gift and hope that she will understand.
6. What can you do to avoid similar problems in the long run?
Finally, especially if you have made similar mistakes in the past, spend some time thinking about avoiding repeating them in the future. This may be the most difficult stage of the process, but it is worth the effort and time. Think about the root cause of the problem you discovered: Which of your habits and tendencies led to this error? Is there a rule that the lapse you are considering can be considered a special case of it? What does this base look like? Once you've realized the rule, you can start brainstorming to find how to change it. If the problems are limited to specific habits (or the absence of specific habits) then what new habits can be acquired to avoid similar problems in the future? For example, if you tend to be late in delivering projects on time, you could start by using a notebook to plan enough time to work on long projects.
The three main principles
It is useful to have an algorithm to solve problems as soon as they arise, but it is no less useful to have a number of principles that can be followed continuously.
1. "Remember that most problems are a direct indication of possible improvements."
The first step toward learning from your mistakes is remembering that you can learn from them. This may seem counterintuitive, but in reality most people don't see their mistakes as an opportunity to learn. If you can understand this, you can turn the biggest failure into a positive experience. Studies show that people who think they can learn from their mistakes react differently at the neurological level and quickly recover their balance after failure.
2. "Be honest with yourself about your shortcomings."
It is natural to try to hide your flaws from others, and even from yourself. But covering up deficiencies does not mean getting rid of them, as they remain constant in the depths, hidden from viewers, affecting your actions and thoughts, no matter how successful you are in ignoring them. And you really can't get it right unless you are honest with yourself.
3. "Always identify both the immediate cause and the deep cause of your problem."
Every error has two types of cause: the immediate cause of the status quo and the deep cause, which is more general and related to your usual tendencies and behaviors. It is important to understand these causes together: if you reveal only one of them, you only see half of the problem. Understanding the immediate cause helps solve the problem in the short term, and understanding the deep cause allows avoiding its recurrence in the future.
Very good