We Learn more by our Mistakes than by our Successes

We are educated more by our mistakes than by our successes.
Describe a specific situation in which someone might be educated more by success than by mistakes. Discuss what you think determines whether or not one learns more from mistakes than from successes.
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Many of us are taught not to be afraid of making mistakes in life. It is said that through those mistakes, we grow as people and learn how to improve the situation. In contrast, we can learn from our successes but we usually will continue in the same direction to maintain the positive situation. However, only certain type of personalities will be educated more by mistakes than successes. That is, those who are resilient and not easily defeated during difficult times will more often eventually profit from making mistakes.

We can learn more from our mistakes because we are forced to reassess the situation and make changes to turn the situation around. For instance, if a student receives a bad grade on a test, he may be determined to strive for higher scores in the future. When he thinks about future implications of a poor transcript and re-evaluates his priorities, he will make changes in his life to make way for better scores. These changes may include modifying study habits, quitting his part-time job, etc. When a person is determined to reach a goal after making a mistake, he often learns something useful in the process. On the other hand, being successful shows that one is already doing the "right thing" and does not need to change. More determined personalities, however, will be able to continue making changes (even after experiencing success) in order to keep up with an evolving environment and avoid stagnation.

Experiencing mistakes and being able to overcome them also makes one more confident to face future obstacles. Those who experience only a success in a consistent basis may be easy thrown off when their luck changes. They may become devastated by even slight failures. In effect, their change in morale and new defeatist attitude lead them on a path to more failures in life. On the other hand, those who can look failure straight in the eye will not feel overwhelmed and take positive steps to overcome a bad situation.

Granted, there are situations when the mistakes made are so profound that one cannot turn a situation around. For instance, this might occur in a case where an oil company makes the mistake of not taking precautions to mitigate disaster and resulting fatalities. The executives' concern for saving money then results in the loss of human life and permanent environmental degradation. As a result, the public loses confidence in the business due to the bad publicity surrounding the executives' greed and poor judgment. In scenarios resulting in such devastating consequences, it is difficult for someone to learn from their mistakes since there seems to really be no way out.

Indeed, certain types of people are unable to learn from mistakes due to, perhaps, arrogance or weak will. Mistakes for these people are not seen as opportunities to grow. Rather, they are ignored by hard-headed people that refuse to make changes in life or viewed as permanent obstacles by those who are easily defeated. Mistakes can teach lessons to those willing to receive them; however, it is essential that one who learns from failure be mindful of their future actions so not commit the same mistakes again.