Everybody makes mistakes, as it is only human. But there are a very few among us who actually learn from our mistakes. The first step is to accept your mistake and make peace with it, and only then can you expect yourself to make a change.
This is what celebrated author Paulo Coelho has to say on repeating your mistakes, “When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision.”
Here are few mistakes that smart people never make twice, something that the rest of us can learn from:
1. Repeating The Same Mistake Again & Again And Expecting Different Results
As the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos has said, “If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you are going to double your inventiveness.”
You cannot get a different result if you put the same constants in the same equation. If you know smoking or drinking is making your health worse, then you need to quit it and not keep dreaming about quitting someday. If you want to change the end result, you need to change the input as well.
2. Spending Over The Budget
Your friends might be planning a trip, but if you join them even though it is out of your budget, then you are in trouble. You might be having a serious problem of always being in debt. In simple words, you need to learn how to live under your means. Smart people never make that mistake twice. If they know skipping a latte can help them save Rs. 6,000 a year, then they will save it and will take the advantage of an opportunity of investing when it knocks on their door.
3. Losing Sight Of The Ultimate Goal
It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when you get busy in the daily schedule of your work life. You may skip working hard once in a while, come late to office or take a leave without informing on time. These could be some of the factors that may be taken into account at the time of your appraisals. Now, maybe getting a 50 percent raise this year was your particular goal but you lost the motivation to chase down the dream somewhere in between.
4. Playing The Victim
Take this particular relationship for instance. A partner in a relationship always acts as a victim and another one acts as the one who is given the responsibility to solve his partners’ problem. Do you think this relationship can thrive? Can someone solve your problems for you? No. The person who is trying to solve the problem in such situations often fails, as he is doing it for the sake of being acceptable or liked in favor of solving that problem.
After learning a lesson the hard way, smart people do not indulge in such a relationship or consider using such metrics to measure their happiness.
5. Trying To Be Someone Else Or Being A People Pleaser
Everyone knows that it is practically impossible to make everyone happy, also that it is a toxic practice. However, smart people know the importance of authenticity and very rarely change their behavior for the sake of pleasing the ones before them. The more authentic your behavior is, you’ll find yourself in a better circle of people who respect you.
For example, in Russia, people often speak out what they have in mind and not what they are expected to say, as per the culture followed in western countries. They prefer keeping it straight and honest, even if it sounds rude at first. They believe in speaking their mind and not what others want to hear. Now, you might be thinking how does that help them? Shouldn’t one be always polite? Well, such a level of honesty helps them in developing trust. They don’t tend to fake it just to be liked.
6. Trying To Change Someone Else
Smart people are fully aware that no one can change them besides themselves, nor do they possess the ability to bring about a major change in someone else.
