Own those mistakes!

 Let's face it - nothing is ever perfect, and we all make mistakes.

To err is to be human, to forgive is to be divine - or just a good teacher!

However, as we get older, one of the reasons that we may find learning more difficult is because we are less tolerant, and less forgiving of our own perceived propensity for making errors. This is especially true of language learning. Adult students are often quite afraid of making mistakes when they produce language, worried that other people will misunderstand them, make fun of them, or (even worse) abuse them. This fear can become a deeply intrinsic demotivating factor when it comes to acquiring a new language - but it goes further than that. It can actually be a block to learning a new skill of any kind.

Why is that?

Well, I believe that in many cultures, and some more than others, competency and skill are the expected minimum from ALL adults. After all, childhood is the time of learning, so once childhood is over, you should be able to just get on with it, yes?

The trouble is we live in a world that has become so much more complex and with so much more to learn than in the past. And yet we don't allow ourselves the personal latitude to make, or own up to mistakes - errors are seen, somehow, almost as a moral failing, something to be excoriated and punished.

But the trouble is, without trial and error, we get nowhere!

In the classroom, whenever a student expresses worry about being able to learn English, I always tell them the same thing:

You're going to make mistakes anyway, so don't worry about them. If you can see it's a mistake, it becomes a lesson!

I also point out that if they spoke perfect English, I wouldn't have a job, so I am, in fact, profiting from their errors.

I find that learners who don't worry too much about perfection, who are open to their mistakes and don't get hung up on them, are in fact far better communicators and end up with greater levels of fluency. It's also noticeable that the younger the learner, the more likely they are to have this mindset. 

I believe our unwillingness, as adults, to tolerate our own mistakes is a learned behaviour, not an innate one, and that we should be far more willing to admit errors - and be a bit kinder to ourselves.

Mistakes are NOT failures - they're attempts that haven't worked, that's all.

However, an inability to LEARN from mistakes inevitably leads to failure, and this is a problem.

We should be able to apply this to our working lives, too - not everything works out fine, but if we pretend that mistakes don't happen, then failures inevitably do. Now, on the micro level, these failures may be tolerable, but when we scale up to corporate level, the risk may increase. If a senior manager, say, is incapable of owning up to mistakes, then they may end up causing a catastrophic failure further down the line. Boeing's handling of the 737 MAX, for example, shows what happens when senior executives don't own up to mistakes, which then lead to the entirely avoidable catastrophe of their planes crashing. 

Now, making a grammar mistake may not be in the same category, but the principle still holds.

It's this: Own your mistakes.

Just put your hands up, say 'OK, I made a mistake'.

But then say, 'OK, how do we fix this?' This is a mature response - but it's also one that allows us to regain control, even if we are not yet sure exactly how we can.

Own your mistakes before they become your failures.