Hidden Brain Podcast – Learning From Your Mistakes

Intro

In this episode of the Hidden Brain podcast, host Shankar Vedantam explores the topic of learning from failure and setbacks. He discusses how our brains react to negative feedback, the psychological techniques that can help us overcome our limitations, and the valuable lessons that failure can teach us. Through personal stories and scientific research, we gain insights into how failure can be a stepping stone to success.

Main Takeaways

Overcoming Failure and Setbacks

• Tower Records was a billion-dollar empire but filed for bankruptcy in 2004 due to digital disruption.
• Many entrepreneurs, leaders, and managers bury their heads in the sand when faced with possible failure.
• Many of us have trouble learning from failure and setbacks.
• When we receive negative feedback, our brains react in a way that can hinder our ability to learn.
• Psychological techniques can help us overcome our limitations and seize the tools of learning and success.

The Power of Failure

• Failure can bruise our ego and undermine our confidence and self-esteem.
• People who receive failure feedback are less likely to learn and retain information than those who receive success feedback.
• Our fear of bad news can lead us to avoid feedback, even when it may be useful.
• People often prioritize avoiding pain and seeking immediate pleasure over the long-term benefits of learning.
• Failure is a form of feedback and can provide valuable information that success cannot.

Learning from Personal Failure

• People tend to underestimate what they can learn from failure and overestimate what they can learn from success.
• Failure is unexpected, while success is expected, making failure more informative.
• The ostrich effect is a tendency to ignore mistakes and avoid bad news.
• Reluctance to share stories of failure may contribute to underestimating the rate of failure.
• Viewing criticism as collaboration can change perception and allow for improvement.

Learning from Others’ Failure

• People learn less from personal failure than from success but can learn from failure when observing someone else without personal ego involved.
• Giving advice to others can help us invest more in our own goals.
• Middle school students who gave advice to others spent more time on homework the following month.
• Experts may be better at accepting feedback because their confidence in their knowledge protects their self-esteem.
• Novices ask different questions than experts, leading to more demoralization when they fail.

Practicing and Improving Skills

• Failing in the dark: low stakes ways to practice and improve skills.
• Feedback about failures can sometimes be wrong, but expertise helps develop an internal sense of what’s correct and where to improve.
• Focusing on the bigger goal helps put failures and challenges into perspective.
• Building a goal pyramid with a North Star helps remind oneself of the ultimate goal.
• Committing to something bigger than oneself makes it easier to accept feedback about failures.

Changing the Narrative Around Failure

• People should become better at talking about their failures and more open about them.
• Creating a CV of failures can help others think about failure differently and show what achievement actually looks like.
• Lauren S. Grease-Winkler has a CV of failures herself and teaches her students to create them as well.

Summary

Learning from Failure: Embracing the Lessons

Tower Records, once a billion-dollar empire, filed for bankruptcy in 2004 due to digital disruption. This serves as a reminder that even successful ventures can fail. Many entrepreneurs and leaders struggle to face failure and instead bury their heads in the sand. Our brains react negatively to feedback, hindering our ability to learn. However, psychological techniques can help us overcome these limitations and embrace the tools of learning and success.

The Power of Failure: Overcoming Fear and Embracing Feedback

Failure can bruise our ego and undermine our confidence. People who receive failure feedback are less likely to learn and retain information compared to those who receive success feedback. Our fear of bad news often leads us to avoid feedback, even when it may be useful. However, failure is a form of feedback that can provide valuable information that success cannot. By changing our perception and viewing criticism as collaboration, we can learn and improve from failure.

Learning from Personal and Others’ Failure: Gaining Valuable Insights

People tend to underestimate what they can learn from failure and overestimate what they can learn from success. The tendency to ignore mistakes and avoid bad news, known as the ostrich effect, hinders our growth. However, when we observe someone else’s failure without personal ego involved, we can learn valuable lessons. Giving advice to others can also help us invest more in our own goals. Middle school students who gave advice to others spent more time on homework, showing the positive impact of sharing knowledge.

Practicing and Improving Skills: Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity

Failing in the dark, which involves low-stakes ways of practicing and improving skills, can help us develop expertise. Feedback about failures may sometimes be wrong, but expertise helps us develop an internal sense of what’s correct and where to improve. Focusing on the bigger goal and building a goal pyramid with a North Star can help us put failures and challenges into perspective. By committing to something bigger than ourselves, we can more easily accept feedback about failures.

Changing the Narrative Around Failure: Embracing Openness and Learning

It is important for individuals to become better at talking about their failures and being open about them. Creating a CV of failures can help shift the perception of failure and show what achievement truly looks like. Lauren S. Grease-Winkler, who teaches her students to create CVs of failures, emphasizes the importance of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success.

Conclusion

Learning from failure is a crucial aspect of personal and professional growth. By overcoming our fear of failure, embracing feedback, and changing our perception of failure, we can turn setbacks into stepping stones. Failure can provide valuable lessons that success cannot, and by learning from our own failures as well as observing others’, we can continuously improve and achieve our goals. It is time to change the narrative around failure and embrace it as a necessary part of the learning process.