“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” -Oscar Wilde

It’s never fun to make mistakes. To mess up in front of our peers or a large crowd of people. To make a fool of ourselves. But we all make mistakes and we’ll continue to make mistakes as we try new things. The great people learn from their mistakes while others give up. Imagine what our world would be like if Benjamin Franklin gave up after the first try. He understood that what he was doing would take time and patience. “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”― Benjamin Franklin 

We need to change our perception of mistakes. We have been ridiculed for making mistakes from such a young age. Get good grades, act this way, don’t do this and don’t try that. Stay in formation. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. In reality we should be rewarded for failing and trying again. Were you great the first time you shot a basketball? Were you able to run before you walked? No way. Instead of looking at ways we’ve failed or made a mistake, look at them as lessons learned. Don’t fail once and give up. Keep trying. Try different things. Experiment until you get it right. It could take 3 hours or it could take 3 years. Hold out for that moment. 

Don’t make mistakes and not have a corrective plan. For this to work you need to take the time to address the areas in which you failed. Learn why it failed and how you think you should change that. Then change what you believe made you make the mistake. The only way for mistakes to truly help is if you learn from each mistake. You should be excited when you make a mistake or fail at something! You just helped yourself get one step closer to winning! You found the correct formula of how not to do it.

Make more mistakes if you can. The more mistakes you make the closer you are to breaking through that wall. Instead of being down and embarassed get excited! Congratulations! You just made a mistake! If you look at mistakes from this angle it will help you get over the fear of failing and boost your confidence to keep pushing towards your ultimate goals. Always learn from your mistakes and you’ll never make one again. You’ve just learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way.