MindSwitch Mondays Issue #6: Mistake Legos, Golf, and our “greens” of Knowledge!
Mistakes are the holes in our “greens” of knowledge, but also opportunities to grow by filling them with a hole in one.
Hello friends - greetings from Montecristo!
This past weekend, we have been glamping with friends at Montecristo, one of El Salvador’s national forests. We have all enjoyed time off technology to reconnect with nature.
Last week I talked about the concept of relearning. By learning constantly and relearning we can avoid making mistakes. Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “to understand is to know what to do.” When you understand something, you make no mistakes.
The perception of how we see mistakes is often a negative one. We have been building this lego tower of the perception of mistakes, with every experience we’ve had with mistakes. Adding a feeling guilty lego piece, other times a block of anger, and sometimes one of embarrassment. However, we can deconstruct this lego tower and build a new one, block by block. I’m working on it myself!
This leads me to this week’s MindSwitch.
1 MindSwitch Idea💡
Mistakes are the holes in our “greens” of knowledge, but also opportunities to grow by filling them with a hole in one. It’s up to us to fill that hole in a one-shot attempt or taking more shots to fill it out.
Let’s go golfing! 🏌🏻
2 Interesting Finds 🔎
Golfing through life: Mistakes raise a flag for us, and oftentimes we cannot see them because our egos overshadow them. These flags, like in golf, show where the hole in the green is.⛳ If we cannot see these flags, we might miss our shot at making hole-in-one. We will have to try again and again until we put the ball in the hole. By embracing mistakes, we have a better shot at refining our angle of approach, we will improve the trajectory of the ball, and fill in this gap.
How we respond to mistakes is what defines us. Being able to get rid of the noise in our environment and managing our feelings to become mentally resilient to failure.
Multidisciplinary thinking requires multidisciplinary learning. If mistakes are a lack of understanding then they are opportunities for learning and growth, making our golf “green” greener. ⛳
As the Japanese proverb says “the frog in the well knows nothing of the mighty ocean.” we can learn about what is in our “well,” the field of work we are in, or the topic of our interest. But how will we make good life choices in the ocean of life if all we know is one well?
Mistakes and understanding coexist in a peaceful way as #Mistantings (mistaken but standing!) or #understakes (understanding through mistakes!).
3 Actionable Steps to flip the Switch. 🏃🏻
Embrace mistakes 🤗: Take deep breaths, talk it out with someone, ask for help, and get back up!
Question 🚩: Why am I making this mistake? What can I learn from it? What do I need to learn to catch up on this topic or skill? Get informed, research, and challenge ideas.
Find a solution 🧩: This is my favorite one and the one I work the most with kids. Allow creativity and flexibility when thinking of an alternative way of doing things or thinking about things! Kids are great at doing this, and the more they practice, the more they will transfer this skill to adulthood.
Thanks for reading!
When you feel like sharing your experience with last week’s MindSwicth, hit the reply button, and let me know what’s on your mind. I respond to EVERY email I get.
Stay safe, stay healthy! 😷
P.S. I am AMAZED by this Golfing Dictionary, so many terms used in golfing! I know someone will be happy that I am learning about all these terms! WINK, WINK! (My husband!) 😉