This familiar expression can be a comfort when we make mistakes. Understanding none of us is perfect also encourages us to forgive others when they make mistakes and may make it easier for us to apologise when we do something wrong (although I am not suggesting it justifies deliberate poor behaviour).
That none of us is perfect suggests we shouldn’t expect to be perfect all the time. This too is an important message as perfectionism and anxiety can fuel each other.
The expression also has direct application to learning.
As Einstein and others have paraphrased, a person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Indeed, a past Carey Principal made this very observation when hearing about a mistake a staff member had made. Rather than criticising the staff member for their mistake, the Principal was affirming the staff member for being innovative and well intentioned. Of course, the Principal also expected that the staff member would learn from their mistake and continue to innovate.
Given none of us is perfect, mistakes are inevitable. How we respond to our mistakes is what is important.
There are some mistakes which we are unlikely to repeat. If you have ignored the fuel warning light on your car, and then found yourself stranded by the side of the road, you are probably going to avoid repeating that mistake.
There are other situations where a mistake won’t have the same degree of consequence and can be just as instructive. Indeed, what might be regarded as a mistake, or series of mistakes, can be necessary steps toward developing a skill or understanding. Whether learning to hammer a nail without bending it or trying to solve an equation, what might be regarded as mistakes are opportunities to refine and develop skills and understanding.
More recent scientific discoveries about how our brains operate and acquire knowledge provide insight into why sayings such as ‘none of us is perfect’ and ‘learn from your mistakes’ hold true.
Professor Carol Dweck identified the importance of approaching challenges with what her team described as a ‘growth mindset’. That is believing you can develop new skills, knowledge and understandings through a process which may involve setbacks along the way. This growth mindset contrasts with a fixed mindset which they found restricted peoples’ ability to learn. People they identified as having a fixed mindset saw mistakes as a sign that they would not be able to develop a skill or understanding. Believing they couldn’t improve, they stopped trying.
Similarly, the relatively new study of cognitive neuroscience has identified, among other things, that our brains can change and adapt. This concept, called neuroplasticity, can be triggered when we recognise we have made a mistake and look for ways to avoid making the same mistake.
I hope we all recognise none of us is perfect and that we all have the potential to improve.
Graeme Young
Deputy Head of Senior School – Student Learning
