{"id":1161,"date":"2018-04-14T00:05:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T04:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2018-04-14T20:35:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T00:35:29","slug":"m-mistakes-i-hate-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1161","title":{"rendered":"M – Mistakes…I hate them!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Another Mistake…I hate that!<\/b><\/p>\n

Did you ever feel down on yourself because of all of the mistakes you make? You\u2019re frustrated and feel incompetent. Ready to give up. Well, you\u2019re not alone. That was exactly what Otto was experiencing the other day.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy bother to do anything?\u201d Otto screamed at no one in particular, one day. \u201cI just can\u2019t do it! This is the third time I\u2019ve tried to put this stupid IKEA chair together and I just can\u2019t follow the simple directions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Herman happened to be nearby on his way to borrow some eggs from Lina, so he could finish a cake he was baking for Minna\u2019s birthday. As he reached his destination, he heard Otto screaming. Minna answered the door and went to get the needed eggs as Herman drifted to the room where Otto was, surrounded by pieces of wood, screws, allen wrenches and paper directions. \u00a0\u201cWould you like some help?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Otto looked up and answered, \u201cNo, I want someone to build furniture that just unfolds to be assembled, not one that you need an engineering degree to build yourself. I\u2019m making too many mistakes. But that is par for the course since that is what I do with everything I try.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Herman tried to reassure Otto. \u201cMaking mistakes isn\u2019t the worst thing in the world. Think of how much you learn from the mistakes you make. \u00a0Thomas Edison once said, \u2018I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.\u2019 So maybe in making those mistakes, you are actually learning something for the next time you have to do whatever it is your doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Otto wasn\u2019t appeased. \u201cIf that is so, I must be learning a lot. What is the worth of it, if I don\u2019t remember the next time I build one of these chairs. Does making the same mistakes over and over again show any learning? If I\u2019m not mistaken Einstein defined that as insanity. So either I\u2019m stupid or insane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou are neither,\u201d was Herman\u2019s reply. \u201cSome things are difficult to accomplish on your own, whether it be building something, learning a skill, like math or reading, completing an assignment, and the like. There are times when you should take a step back and ask for help. You don\u2019t need to be an expert on everything. Mistakes that repeat themselves might be a good indication that you should get assistance. As I said when I came in, Can I help you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Otto rethought about his IKEA dilemma and decided that he could build the chair one last time, putting the pieces in the correct slots, but having Herman around to make sure he followed the directions would make it easier. \u201cYes, you can help. If you would just follow along with the directions as I build the chair that might let me accomplish it quicker with fewer mistakes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Herman helped, the chair was completed. He retrieved the eggs he needed from Lina and went home. When he got home he was greeted by Minna who was very happy and gave Herman a big hug. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll always take a hug from you, but what\u2019s the occasion? I haven\u2019t even finished your cake yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Minna let out a little giggle. \u201cIt\u2019s not for the cake, silly. We just received the present you purchased for me. Don\u2019t you remember that new computer workstation you bought from IKEA for my study room? I can\u2019t wait until you put it together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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I can certainly relate to Otto\u2019s frustration with IKEA. Rarely do I put together one of their pieces without putting one piece in the wrong spot and have to partially break it down to that spot and rebuild it. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a lot more thoughts on making mistakes if you ever wish to search them out. Thomas Edison seemed to be an expert on them. The following are just a few:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.\u201d\u00a0Thomas A. Edison<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNegative results are just what I want. They\u2019re just as valuable to me as positive results. \u201cI can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don\u2019t.\u201d Thomas A. Edison<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJust because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.\u201d\u00a0 Thomas A. Edison<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.\u201d – Johnny Cash<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTake chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.\u201d – Mary Tyler Moore<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.\u201d – Scott Adams<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.\u201d – George Bernard Shaw<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cExperience is simply the name we give our mistakes.\u201d – Oscar Wilde<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.\u201d – \u00a0Neil Gaiman<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Another Mistake…I hate that! Did you ever feel down on yourself because of all of the mistakes you make? You\u2019re frustrated and feel incompetent. Ready to give up. Well, you\u2019re not alone. That was exactly what Otto was experiencing the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,10,7],"tags":[70,67,69],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2018","category-education","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge","tag-harvey-heilbrun","tag-mistakes"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}