How to overcome your mistakes

More than 400 people were recruited for a 2019 research in order to learn

a strange, made-up tongue.

Three pairs of runes were given to the participants to answer. For instance, which of these two characters symbolizes an animal?

They were then questioned about the identical rune pairings with questions inverted, such as which of these two runes denotes a non-living thing, following a brief intermission.

But there was a twist to this game: the meanings of the runes in round two were decided by the respondents' responses in round one.

In the first round, participants were either made to fail every question, or all of their responses were marked as accurate regardless of the circumstances.

This meant that everyone had access to the same information during the break, and that in round two, they were actually playing.

However, in spite of this level playing field, the first round's winners ascended to the top, while the people who were predicted to lose continued to fail.

Failure is sometimes characterized as a learning moment—a necessary detour on the path to progress.

But it's not always simple to learn from our mistakes, particularly when those mistakes are disheartening, overpowering, or just plain unclear.

What then stands in the way of us mastering from our mistakes?

The most evident obstacle to learning from failure is probably its agony.

Most people want to believe that they are capable and competent, and failing puts that belief in jeopardy.

After taking part in a replication of the rune research, respondents in the failure group reported significantly lower levels of self-confidence on a survey.

It's easy to write this agony off as a passing phase.

However, recent research has shown that people's brains frequently cease absorbing new information when they feel hopeless or inadequate.

This implies that your capacity to learn may be compromised if there is a significant enough danger to your sense of self-worth.

Your ability to accept failure, nevertheless, is also influenced by how you feel about the work at hand.

Researchers polled a sample of US students engaged in beginning and advanced French classes in a 2011 study.

These pupils responded to a survey by indicating whether they preferred a teacher who focused on their accomplishments and strengths or one who called attention to their errors and addressed their deficiencies.

Overall, the data indicated that whereas less experienced students were looking for praise, more experienced students were more interested in receiving constructive criticism.

A few hypotheses have been proposed by researchers to account explain these findings.

Beginners may need praise to keep motivated because they are still figuring out whether learning French is enjoyable and whether they want to pursue it further.

However, since advanced students have already made an investment, they might desire to develop as quickly as feasible.

Since failure is a necessary part of the process of becoming an expert, advanced pupils could have developed a greater tolerance for error.

Nevertheless, learning from your accomplishments is typically far easier than learning from your mistakes, regardless of your level of experience.

Consider receiving your exam grade back, for instance.

If you aced the test, you may fairly presume that you made wise selections about what, when, and how much to study. You can then repeat similar judgments for the test that's coming up.

If you didn't succeed, there might be a variety of reasons why.

It's possible that you studied incorrect material, didn't study long enough, or that you completed everything correctly but the test contained material that wasn't required of you.

It's challenging to figure out how to do better in situations like these since it's unclear exactly what went wrong.

It's only natural to want to grow from our mistakes, and developing resilience and a growth mindset have many benefits.

However, it's easy to forget all of your accomplishments when you focus only on your mistakes.

Enhancing your existing practices might yield more results than dwelling on past mistakes.