Why is it important to make mistakes?
What do microwave, penicillin, Coca Cola and insulin have in common? Well, at the first glance — nothing. All of these scientific inventions play an enormous role in everyday life, and we cannot imagine our lives without them. What’s interesting is that they were invented by pure accident. It’s difficult to grasp that such remarkable discoveries which shaped the future of technology, medicine or beverage industry were born out of a simple mistake. So why is it so difficult, and even embarrassing for us to embrace our own mistakes today?
Perhaps what is difficult from making a mistake is admitting it — to yourself, but especially, to others. The reason is usually — fear. Fear of embarrassment, incompetence, ridicule. This is the moment when our inner self-consciousness panic alarm goes off and we try to hide and camouflage the mistake to the best of our abilities. In most cases, mistakes rise to the surface in spite of our efforts to disguise them, which usually causes even more damage.
In my experience, here are a few reasons why we shouldn’t hide our mistakes, but embrace them.
1. Mistakes make us level up.
It’s not the same to learn from other people’s mistakes and from our own. Why? Because we know the process which leads us towards making the mistake, admitting it and accepting it. And if we make a mistake once, it will become embedded in our mind deeply, so that we will always remember it — and try to never repeat it again. Even if it’s a small, silly slip, when we come even close to making the same mistake again, we will always have that “a-ha!” moment and take another route to problem-solving.
2. Mistakes are a path towards learning.
When we make a mistake, and don’t know how to correct it, we seek assistance, help, guidance, advice. That’s not an easy thing to do, because we need to make ourselves vulnerable, open, uncomfortable. We need to expose ourselves, accept feedback and seek ways for improvement. By making mistakes, we make ourselves more knowledgeable, because we will find new ways to deal with difficult situations.
3. Secrets are worse than mistakes.
Admit it — we all tried to hide something at least once in our lives (even if it’s telling your mom you ate that broccoli for dinner!). But every single time, people would get more upset not because of the mistake, but because of the secret. Secrets imply a thorough investigation and clean up. Sometimes secrets cause irreparable damage — especially to clients, partners or shareholders, who don’t know you as your colleagues do. They won’t understand it was done unintentionally, because they don’t care. They care about the end result, which might have huge consequences. Because of secrets, not mistakes, we lose the respect and trust from our colleagues and managers.
4. You’re not the only one.
And this is a great consolation, even relief. We’ve all been at the start of our career — interns, juniors, apprentices, we’ve all had our first work experiences. And the people who hired us knew that. They expected our mistakes. They were prepared for them. But most of all, they were ready to help us, give us guidance and show us how to grow. Of course, not all of them were so empathetic or patient, but the bottom line is, we are all human beings who are prone to human errors.
Recently, HBO Max published a tweet about the mistake which an intern made and how they were helping him through all the stress and fuss around it. What’s interesting is that they owned the mistake and even made a joke about it. Result? People (some of them seniors, VPs, even CEOs) related to the story and started sharing their own mistakes. This story echoed not only with that intern, but also with anyone who has ever made a mistake (which is, basically, every single human being). Plus, HBO Max got some bonus marketing points. And who said mistakes can’t contribute to the win-win situation?
5. You become a better leader.
Once we are aware of our mistakes, it’s easier for us to transfer that knowledge and experience to others. It makes us vulnerable to people we lead, manage or mentor, exposing ourselves to them and admitting all the faulty things we’ve done, hoping they can take something from our own mistakes. It’s remarkable how this uncovering can do so much for the respect you’ll get from your team, because it’s easier for people to relate to someone who makes mistakes and openly admits them, than to someone who does everything by the book and seems so perfect. “Seems” is highlighted for a reason.
Bonus: Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your mistakes to your manager or during your next interview. More importantly, feel free to share what you learned from that mistake and the whole process around it. Your honesty and key takeaways from the experience will score you some extra points.
Startups are at the heart of business today. They are one of the most dynamic, risky, interesting, challenging organizations. However, startups are equal to mistakes. So many startups fade each day because of mistakes. But so many rise again from the ashes, in spite of the mistakes. That’s what mistakes should be perceived as — phoenixes. Mistakes put us down, but man — what a beautiful creature can rise from them! 🚀
