When reasoning that mistakes are good, I heard a teacher say, “it took Einstein 1,000 tries before inventing a light bulb!”
I don’t know about you, but I am not like Einstein. My guess is: neither are the typical student. Who can relate to Einstein’s failures, the ones he made while experimenting on his way toward some predetermined vision?
Einstein also said, “”I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” For me during many projects and change initiatives, I can related to 1,000 steps. Perhaps you can, too, with your work projects. But can students?
The point that Neil Gaimen makes is about mistakes. We can call it failure, frustration, errors – even catastrophe, Einstein also said. But what are these “mistakes”?
Taking a right instead of a left on your way to the store. Telling a potential client the wrong history of a federal grant competition. Replying to a colleague’s comment with what you think the person wanted to hear rather than what you really thought. Sending an email that you thought about again later and wished you would have send a different message. Calculated columns by hand in Excel before understanding that there are formulas for that. Not listening to your partner because you were focused on something you wished you hadn’t said at work. Following rabbit holes in YouTube, Twitter, or the news because it was easier than getting of your chair and walking around for a break. Staying quiet when a person makes a degrading remark to a stranger in public. Staying silent with individuals you know disparages or judges other humans.
When we make a mistake, it is easy to feel shame or depression. However, our frame of learning can drive our escape from that never-ending self-judgement.
An adult learning theory first described by David Kolb provides a frame of learning from experience. Informed by foundational learning theorists like John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget, Kolb’s model has 4 elements: we first have a concrete experience. We observe it then reflect on this observation. From this reflection, we form new concepts. And finally, we test the concept in a new situation. It is a cycle, one that spirals through life, if we can first accept ourselves as life and life-long learners.
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