Learning from mistakes is essential, especially in youth ministry. After all, everyone makes mistakes. That’s a cliché, but it’s true…even for church workers. Yet not everyone learns from their mistakes.
Why do some people—even reasonably intelligent ones—keep repeating the same mistakes over and over? Keep an open mind as you consider these insights…
Learning from Mistakes Is a Skill
Here’s why you might not be learning from mistakes:
1. You don’t want to learn.
Yep, this factor is fairly obvious but crucial. Too easily, we dismiss our mistakes as bad luck. Or we think they could happen to anyone. Anything to avoid actually dealing with our own mistakes. How we attribute our mistakes is important.
- External attribution, the tendency to look for a cause outside ourselves or outside our control, makes for lousy learning experiences.
- Internal attribution, seeking the cause within your own behavior, may lead to feelings of regret, guilt, or anger. But it’s a far more constructive route to personal growth.
Do you actually want to learn from your mistakes, even if that means changing your routines, your belief system, your attitudes and habits?
I’m not wired for lots of change, for instance. It takes conscious effort for me to change things. This negatively affects my ability to learn from mistakes. Willingness to learn and adapt is a key ingredient in learning from mistakes. It’s why I’m forcing myself to embrace change, knowing I need that to grow.
2. You don’t think you can learn.
This may seem like psychobabble. But it determines whether we learn from mistakes. Do you feel as if you could learn something? Then you’ve considerably increased your chances of actually learning from mistakes.
But if you’re convinced it won’t matter because you’ll never learn it, or that all your efforts won’t make a difference? Then you’re far less likely to learn. Research proves this! (I guess that’s why I never got the hang of math. I was convinced I was genetically unable to do it.)
