Anyone Who Has Never Made A Mistake Has Never Tried Something New

Albert Einstein

I guess Albert was more than just a brilliant scientist.  He could have mentored me when I was afraid to make a mistake.  He could have mentored me when I was hesitant to take a risk.  He could have mentored me when I felt safe staying with the old instead of the new.


How many mistakes have you made in your life?  Did you make the same mistake more than once?  How do you feel when you make a mistake?  Do you try to avoid making a mistake because you get frustrated if you do so?  How do you feel about someone who makes a mistake and doesn't show they feel bad about it?


How many new things have you tried?  Do you feel bad when you know you should have tried something new?  Do you take a step back and think about something new you could be doing today?  Where are you when the group decides to try something new?  Do you envy people that seem to always be willing to try something new?


I've make many mistakes.  I've make the same mistake twice and have two divorces to show for it.  I used to do everything I could to avoid mistakes.  I, like my father before and his father before, feared taking risks.  I used to feel like I was not good enough when I made a mistake.  I had little tolerance for others mistakes and really got pissed off when they didn't seem to care because I believed it reflected negatively on me.


I, like my father before and his father before, didn't try new things.  In our family, we ate the same food on each day of the week.  Monday was hamburgers, Tuesday was boiled chicken, Wednesday was a sandwich, etc.  Every Sunday was dinner out at the same restaurant eating the same food. The few vacations we took were always to the same place.  When presented with an opportunity to improve his small sandwich place business, my father always passed.


My saving grace, when I became on my own, was the desire to get more out of life than my father.  That desire got me to take a few risks and try some new things.  As I started to realize I was able to recover from my mistakes, I became willing to risk making more mistakes.  My willingness to risk more mistakes enabled me to try new things.


I'm still cautious and conservative (old habits are hard to break), but I don't fear making a mistake or trying something new.  My wife isn't a mistake driven new experience junkie, but she has always been out there much more than I.  Over our twenty sever years, she has helped me realize the happiness of new experiences.


Where are you on this scale?  Too many mistakes could lead to unhappiness.  Too few risks might lead to unhappiness.  Too many new experiences might not make you happy and for sure, too few new experiences will never make you a happy person.


The balance has got to be about you and how you feel about yourself.  Life has so many new things to offer you.  However, jumping out of an airplane might not be in your make-up.  Our parents tried to prevent us from making mistakes.  However, not being willing to make a mistake by quitting your current unhappy job to take one more interesting, is the core of Einstein's message.


"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried something new."  Don't be that person.  Learning from your mistakes will feed your confidence and your ego.  Having new successful experiences will enhance your love of life.


Go for it!  You will fix any mistake you make.  You will be able to sort out which new experience is right for you and which is not.  The more you can bring yourself to take a risk, the happier you will become.

"If you make more right decisions than wrong decisions your life will be better - no decision is a wrong decision."

Kenny Felderstein