Definition of terms
Learn: to acquire knowledge of, to get to know: to gain power, to gain knowledge or information of; to ascertain by inquiry
Past: gone by in time and no longer existing
Failure: a lack of success in some effort, the inability to meet an expectation.
By definition to learn from past failures is to gain knowledge of a lack of success that you expected to take place, in a time that no longer exists.
From an early age, children in school are taught to correct their spelling errors, math miscalculations or mispronunciation of words. This is practised for students to be fully prepared for the next grade, which builds on the previous. Our past failures are clearly not the end, but areas we need to sharpen on in order to progress to the next phase.
Every person has areas of their life that are important. The wheel of life has broken these areas into 7 parts. Namely:
- Career
- Financial
- Social
- Spiritual
- Physical
- Family
- Intellectual
Each and every one of us, desire to be successful in each area and when that doesn’t happen as planned or hoped for, it affects us negatively. Whether you planned to lose weight, run a profitable business or pass your exams, when you do not succeed at what you had set, it can be highly demotivating, affecting your self-confidence and future plans.
The one thing that is important is not to dwell on the past mistakes and pitfalls, but to study how they occurred, the part you had to play and how to improve going forward. Being sad/upset/disappointed about a situation is normal and should be a stepping-stone towards improvement.
One study stated that “How individuals react to failure separates leaders from followers”
Key points
- Failure is not final.
- By taking time to learn from past mistakes, one has a higher chance of success.
- Take time to analyse where you made a mistake, why you did and how you can improve.
Want to learn more on how you can actively learn from past mistakes today? Book an appointment now
