Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes

Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes

Most people would imagine that their life would be perfect if they went from success to success – from one peak to another, without any valleys. However, the irony is that you would find this boring, as you would learn very little as you grew older.

The fact is, we don’t learn much from our successes. We take them for granted and assume they are the well-deserved outcome of our skills, hard work, and expertise. Even though the reality is that they occur often because we were lucky, and found ourselves in the right place, at the right time!).

Failures are a completely different animal! They bother us, which is why they remain stuck in our heads. We replay them repeatedly because they hurt our ego, and we keep on thinking about what we can do differently the next time, to prevent them from recurring. Often this is a futile exercise, and we find ourselves fighting the last war, instead of moving forward.

We suffer from self-attribution bias, where we attribute good outcomes to skill and bad outcomes to luck. This prevents us from recognising mistakes as just mistakes, which prevents us from learning from our mistakes.

Errors are inevitable, and we need to develop a system, so we can learn from them.

Embrace Your Mistakes, Grow In Life

It’s important to be disciplined. And it’s helpful to think of life as a series of experiments, both big (should I switch jobs?) and small (should I stop eating meat?) Write down your hypothesis, make a list of reasons why you may fail and then track your metrics proactively.

It’s important to record leading indicators, so you are on top of the problem, and can change track as needed. If you approach life in this fashion, I can promise you that you will become wiser over time.

It’s a cliche to say that we learn by our mistakes but the truth is that you can’t learn without making mistakes. These could be accidental, or deliberate, but you can learn from all of them – both the ones you make and the ones you observe others making.

In fact, you can measure your ability to learn new things by the number of mistakes you allow yourself to make.

Sometimes the lessons can be expensive, and this is when the cutting edge can also become the bleeding edge. You need to think of ways which allow you to learn quickly, cheaply, and safely.

[This post by Dr. Aniruddha Malpani originally appeared on LinkedIn and has been reproduced with permission.]

Note: The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views held by Inc42, its creators or employees. Inc42 is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by guest bloggers.

You have reached your limit of free stories
Become An Inc42 Plus Member

Become a Startup Insider in 2024 with Inc42 Plus. Join our exclusive community of 10,000+ founders, investors & operators and stay ahead in India’s startup & business economy.

2 YEAR PLAN
₹19999
₹7999
₹333/Month
Unlock 60% OFF
Cancel Anytime
1 YEAR PLAN
₹9999
₹4999
₹416/Month
Unlock 50% OFF
Cancel Anytime
Already A Member?
Discover Startups & Business Models

Unleash your potential by exploring unlimited articles, trackers, and playbooks. Identify the hottest startup deals, supercharge your innovation projects, and stay updated with expert curation.

Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes-Inc42 Media
How-To’s on Starting & Scaling Up

Empower yourself with comprehensive playbooks, expert analysis, and invaluable insights. Learn to validate ideas, acquire customers, secure funding, and navigate the journey to startup success.

Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes-Inc42 Media
Identify Trends & New Markets

Access 75+ in-depth reports on frontier industries. Gain exclusive market intelligence, understand market landscapes, and decode emerging trends to make informed decisions.

Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes-Inc42 Media
Track & Decode the Investment Landscape

Stay ahead with startup and funding trackers. Analyse investment strategies, profile successful investors, and keep track of upcoming funds, accelerators, and more.

Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes-Inc42 Media
Why We Learn More From Our Failures Than Our Successes-Inc42 Media
You’re in Good company