01 November 2020

Mistakes Are Good

Everybody says "Make mistakes - but don't repeat your mistakes". This advice is well-intentioned, but it is wrong - both logically and practically:
1. Logically - There is no need to say "Don't repeat your mistakes". Who repeats their mistakes? Nobody does - because the human brain is built and programmed to learn from its mistakes. And in case somebody 'repeats' his/her mistake, it only means that the original learning was not enough - because the original mistake was not big enough; so a 'repetition' is needed.
2. Practically - If we keep saying "Don't repeat your mistakes", then people make it as their rule #1. And what is the best way to avoid repeating mistakes? Simple: Don't make any mistakes at all - ie, play safe and don't take any risks. So "Don't repeat your mistakes" practically becomes "Don't make any mistakes".

So instead of saying the well-intentioned but completely wrong "Make mistakes - but don't repeat your mistakes", we should simply say "Mistakes are good".