Some mistakes are good. Have you noticed that?

I have a book in my classroom called Mistakes That Worked all about famous inventions that were discovered by mistake (think Silly Putty and Coca Cola). So many great ideas were born from a failure to meet the goal.

One example: the post-it note. A scientist was working on a formula for a super strong glue and came up with this super weak glue instead. Five years later, another scientist who was trying to find a way to keep his bookmark from falling out of his hymnal decided to try using his colleague's weak glue, which led to the idea of sticky notes.

There are so many lessons we can take from this: You need to have perseverance and grit. Be willing to think outside of the box. Don't hide your failures because they may lead to exactly what someone else needs. Learn from your mistakes.

There is so much benefit from adopting a growth mindset toward mistakes and failures. We become more willing to take a risk and try something new. We become smarter and more collaborative, able to pool our resources (even if we don't know it's a resource!). It also takes a lot of the stress out of our daily living.

Mistakes can be good.

So why is our culture so steeped in shame and guilt?

Why are so many of us petrified of making a mistake? Why do we constantly beat ourselves up over a word misspoken or a task not completed? And why are we so much harder on ourselves than others? Sometimes it seems like I can forgive everyone but myself.

And why do I feel that I need to forgive myself for making a mistake?

I guess it just comes down to a simple shift in mindset. Maybe we just need to remind ourselves over and over and over again that mistakes can be good. That sometimes, failure to meet a goal is actually a step toward meeting a different goal. And that that's pretty cool. Maybe it's as simple as leaving daily affirmations that we can move forward and learn from any mistake. That we are still loved, forgiven, and moving in the right direction.

We could use post-it notes.