Remember when you were a kid and you used to color trying to stay within the lines? Remember the frustration you felt when your strokes went off the edges of your drawing?
From the very beginning we come face to face with the mistake and experience the unpleasant sensations it causes. Later, when we start going to school, mistakes take on a greater proportion. Our notebooks are filled with red lines that indicate that we have made a mistake. They tell us that our response is not what we expected and that we need to change it.
Thus we develop a negative attitude towards error, to the point of wanting to banish it from our lives. We forget that we had to fall many times to learn to walk. That before learning to eat properly, we wasted food countless times. We focus only on mistakes, forgetting that these were necessary for our evolution. Through these experiences, the idea that error is bad, something to be avoided at all costs, has burned into us.
Instead, we just need to learn to be wrong, stop punishing ourselves for past mistakes , and open the door to the possibility of failure.
The error as a source of surprises and discoveries
In 1968, Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M Maplewood, was working on creating a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. However, he created a new material so light that it peeled off easily leaving no residue on the surface.
What was initially a mistake five years later became the glue the company would use to create what was then called Press n’ Peel but would later come to know it as post it notes , a ubiquitous item in offices around the world .
In reality, many famous inventions are due to “mistakes”. Surprise, both good and bad, is inherent in error. After all, an error is just a deviation from the expected results, either because it goes against our expectations or those of society.
From that point of view, error annoys us because it introduces an unexpected factor into the equation and opens the door to uncertainty. It reminds us that we have deviated from the marked path and, therefore, have not arrived at the “right” point.
Indeed, it is no coincidence that the word error derives from the Latin “errare”, which also means to wander and go aimlessly. It is also related to the root “ers”, which implies being in motion. Therefore, its very etymology suggests that error is an inherent part of evolution. Mistakes are part of the journey. Avoiding them condemns us to immobility. Only those who do nothing can’t make mistakes, those who don’t try, those who don’t risk it, those who don’t dare to go further and challenge their limits. For this it is necessary to learn to make mistakes and even to open a space for error in our lives.
The error as a learning engine
Our brains are constantly making predictions about the likelihood of something happening to anticipate problems. Obviously he will try to minimize uncertainty and surprise, to avoid a more challenging situation that forces us to face the unexpected.
Much of this process occurs below the level of consciousness, according to neuroscientists at Northwestern University . However, that process gives us security. On the other hand, when something unexpected happens and we get it wrong, our brain is forced to recalculate the difference between reality and its prediction to estimate the margin of error.
Since it implies a greater cognitive effort, and sometimes even an emotional load due to the negative halo with which the error has been covered, our first impulse is to free ourselves from that experience. But it is precisely in that margin of error that learning takes place. In that margin we update our forecasts, acknowledge reality, and change our plans to be more effective or better adapted.
Mistakes prepare the brain to learn in unique and powerful ways. Therefore, when we make a mistake, instead of trying to move on quickly, we need to understand that we are obtaining valuable information to update our worldview, recalibrate our beliefs or change our behaviors.
The ability to see mistakes as learning opportunities is key to developing a growth mindset. The person with a growth mindset will see themselves as a “work in progress,” meaning that mistakes pose no threat to their identity. At that very moment, they stop being the enemy and become allies.
Of course, learning to be wrong takes hard work. We need to analyze what went wrong and figure out how to fix it. And to do that, we must practice self-acceptance by understanding failure as an event, not a permanent identity. If we are wrong about something, it does not mean that we are “failed”.
Interestingly, when we open the door to error, the chances of making mistakes decrease because by making room for entropy we open up to all possibilities, which widens the horizon of results.
Of course, it’s not about going through life making mistakes on purpose, but about making room for the unexpected and opening the door to uncertainty. Be more daring, even if it means making mistakes. In short, it is a question of widening the edges of the drawing and making peace with ourselves when, by mistake, our paths go beyond the margins. Because a mistake can be tragic, but it can also be magical.
