Mary’s Minute
“We need to accept that we won't always
make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes - understanding
that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success.”
~ Arianna Huffington
I love this notion of ridding our
thoughts that the opposite of success is failure. Failure can be an important step towards
success. I like to think of mistakes not
as failure, but as approximations.
Consider a baby learning to talk.
When the baby says, “Da,” we do not consider it a failure for
appropriately saying, “Daddy,” but instead praise the approximation that puts
our baby one step closer to normal communication. Life and learning are not about failure, but
about approximations that help guide us.
It is through our mistakes that we learn. Sometimes mistakes are costly and difficult,
but as long as we use them as stepping stones to better decisions, better
living, or deeper learning, then they are not failure.
Traditional notions of learning,
tend to see student answers as right or wrong, but when we think of wrong as
not being failure, but an approximation then we can use the “wrong” answer as a
valuable step towards greater understanding.
Sure we all love to not make bad decisions, but let’s remember that even
mistakes lead us to greater understanding of academic pursuits and life
lessons.
Have
a great break!
Mary
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