I have no problem admitting when I make a mistake or am wrong about something. I feel that is the best way to learn something. Where would we be if we didn't mess things up now and then? Failure is as important as success in life.

We have been told from a young age that mistakes are bad. “Do a good job and don’t make any mistakes”. We heard that all of our lives. I could not disagree more. There would be no wisdom or success without first finding failure and mistakes. The key is to learn from them. I feel that mistakes can be the seeds of wisdom. But like seeds, if you keep piling them up in the same place nothing will grow. There is nothing wrong with messing up as long as you are learning from what you did wrong. You have to do something wrong a few times to learn how to do it right.

Can you imagine if the guy who made 7up quit after making 3up? How about if the person who created WD-40 quit after WD-23? We would have nothing but sticky hinges and squeaky doors. You need to be free enough to toss some mistakes out there so you can learn and perfect. Half of my mistakes have made me the man I am today. I have done a lot of messing up through the years but I think I have learned from each mistake. Do not discourage your kids when they mess up, use it as a teaching opportunity to let them learn something. They will be wiser for it. If we just get punished for mistakes, all we learn is how to take punishment. That really isn’t a great life skill. We can do better.

Get out there and mess something up, learn from it and gain the knowledge that trial and error brings. Just remember not to make the same ones over and over, you will miss out on the knowledge and only gain stupidity.

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