For those who repeat the same mistakes, the problem is not that they failed

Common traits of people who cannot learn from failure
Not reflecting is scarier than failing
There are almost no people who have never failed at work.
I myself have had experiences where things did not go as planned, both when I was a company employee and after I became independent as a management consultant.

Everyone fails.
That is why I do not consider failure itself to be the problem.

What I am really concerned about iswhat happens after.

Surprisingly, many people move on to their next task without reflecting on the reason for their failure.

Because they are busy.
Because it is over.
Because there is no point in thinking about it.

If you put off reflection for reasons like these, you will repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

1. Experience alone does not lead to growth

“If you gain experience, you will grow.”
Sometimes people think that way.

Of course, experience is important.
But in reality, people do not change just by having an experience.
As I have mentioned in another article, the difference in experience is enormous, but
if you do not do something to apply this experience to the next step,
it will be a waste of potential.
For example, even if two people continue the same job for ten years, don't you see some who grow significantly and others who hardly change at all?

What is the difference?

I believe it is not the amount of experience, but


the quality of reflection
.The more time a person takes to turn experience into wisdom, the more their future judgments will change.

2. Seeking the cause of failure outside of oneself

When you fail,
“The economy was bad.”
“The other party was bad.”
“The timing was bad.”

Of course, those things happen.
In management, there arefactors you cannot change yourself.

However, if you stop there, you also lose the opportunity to change yourself.

What I value in management consulting is the question:
“What would you change if you were in the same situation next time?”
I feel that people who can answer this grow faster.

3. Success is not reflected upon as much as failure

Actually, success is more dangerous than failure.

When things go well, you might just end with,
“That went well too.”
However,

Why did it succeed?
Was it a coincidence?
Can it be replicated?
Unless you think this far, there is no guarantee you will succeed next time.

I try to reflect not only when I fail, but especially when I succeed.

This is because success hides many hints that can be applied to the future.

4. Reflection can be short

When people hear the word reflection, they imagine a long debriefing session.
That is not the case.
I believe that just these two things are enough:

“What went well?”
“What should I change?”
Five minutes is fine.
The important thing is to organize your experience within the same day.

As time passes, small insights fade away.

5. People who grow turn failure into an asset

People who do not repeat the same mistakes are not necessarily highly capable.
They are people who can turn failure into an asset.
Reflect.

Improve.
Try again.
This repetition creates a difference little by little.

That is why I want to value not the number of failures, but what you brought back from them.

Summary

You cannot avoid failure forever.
If you challenge yourself with new things, there will be times when things do not go as you wish.

That is precisely why the time after a failure is important.
Not reflecting because you are busy.

Forgetting because it is over.
The accumulation of these habits is the cause of repeating the same mistakes.
On the other hand, people who have a habit of stopping to think for a moment are connecting their experiences to their next success.

In management, work, and life, what makes a person grow is not failure.
It is how you reflect on that failure.

If you have had a result that did not go as planned recently, please try reflecting on it just once before blaming yourself.
There might be a hint hidden there that will bring your next challenge closer to success.

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