Presumably, you opened this article inquisitively wondering, “why the title is spelled incorrectly?” You may have made assumptions of my credibility as a writer, or my intelligence based off of a single letter. Well you’re about to have some regrets over a single letter.

As a nervous freshman, I stumbled into Introduction to Economics. On the second day of class my professor asked a question I reticently muttered a response. My professor said bluntly, “that’s definitely not the right answer.” I was mortified, and concluded that I would never participate in class for the rest of the semester.

While my economics class didn’t exactly encourage making mistakes, my entrepreneurship class has emboldened me to take risks. A few days into class, my professor enthusiastically explained this “bad idea contest” where we would shout out bad ideas in the span of two minutes to solve a particular problem. At first our class didn’t really see a purpose to this activity. After the exercise, my professor clarified that with every bad idea, there is a possibility for it to be a good idea. Some of the best ideas have arisen from mistakes; post-it notes, microwave ovens, potato chips, and penicillin.

Mistakes are so much more than failures, they are opportunities.

Mistakes are strength. Everyone has different values. Mistakes reveal the anomalies in relationships and allow you to acknowledge those differences, while simultaneously strengthening the existing relationship. Not only do mistakes strengthen interpersonal relationships, but intrapersonal ones as well. Learning how to forgive yourself for your mistakes is challenging. It means accepting yourself despite failure.

Mistakes are humility. Sometimes we can’t be right all of the time. Admitting your mistakes is a sign of maturity.

Mistakes are knowledge. Why be safe all of the time? Taking risks opens the possibility to discovering something you might not have known otherwise. It’s taking experiences and learning from them. They even say that making mistakes are the best teacher.

We tend to view things in either a positive or negative mindset. However, things are more multi faceted and complex than we concede. There are so many positive outcomes that can arise from seemingly negative experiences. Mistakes are no different. Next time that you make a mistake consider the overall ramifications. Reflecting on the experience, can allow you to realize that there may be more positive effects than negative ones. It may just be that the positive aspects are not as conspicuous as the negative ones. So continue to make mistakes because like Hannah Montana said, “everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.”