Everyone
makes mistakes. It sounds simple and familiar, but we often forget. Babies
aren't born knowing how to walk, and falling down is an essential part of the
learning process. Neural networks and brains are learning computers.
They learn
by experimenting with inputs and outputs until patterns are detected and
associations formed between actions and effects. That's why babies wave their
limbs around for a while after they're born – their brains are learning what motor
neurons produce what movements.
We do the
same thing our whole lives, experimenting with actions, behaviours, language
and strategies, and learning which ones lead to happiness. Discovering which
actions and behaviours do not produce happiness is just as important as
discovering which ones do.
Mistakes
aren't in any way wrong, bad or worthy of regret. They're data. When it was put
to Thomas Edison that he'd failed to invent a battery after 10,000 attempts, he
replied: “I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
We should
never feel guilty about our mistakes, which are simply part of our learning
process. At the time it happened, we were doing the best we could with the
information we had. The same goes for everyone else.
I've missed
more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've
been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and
over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan