Top Mistakes Part 5

I share top mistakes #13-15 in my occasional top mistakes blog.

Mistake 13a: An Easy Quitter

I was discouraged easily when I get frustrated. I was angry at myself when I fail to understand something I’m learning for the first time. I felt dumb not learning the first time. I lost control of my temper. I quit without giving myself a second chance.

The lesson I learned is try again. I shouldn’t be discouraged easily. Sometimes we need more time to learn something new. The best of the best spent years being a professional. I shouldn’t expect instant expert level at everything I do immediately. Take my time and be patient.

Mistake 13b: I Never Made Mistakes

I was afraid to make mistakes. I believe that explains why I failed to learn the importance of making mistakes to learn. I was scared to try something new when I was younger. I had a boring childhood.

Mistake 13a and mistake 13b are complementary. I quit immediately, thereby not learning the lesson of learning from my mistakes. If I didn’t quit, then I learn from my mistakes and frustrations to understand what I’m doing wrong.

The lesson I learned is making mistakes is required to learn. We make mistakes because we’re human.

Mistake 14: Quit When It’s Not Going Well

I remember my mom taught me to never give up. Don’t quit because quitting means I failed. I misunderstood that lesson. Quitting is the best choice sometimes. It’s okay to quit when something is not going well; not necessarily quit because I didn’t try hard enough. I quit because I’m wasting my time.

The best example is I dropped Beginning Japanese in Spring 2009 at De Anza College. The instructor was terrible. I consulted with my friends who took Japanese. I told them how the instructor taught and her expectations. All of my friends said quit the class. It was the correct choice. Over 50% of the class dropped out on finals week.

On the other hand, I failed to drop Beginning Singing in Winter 2010. There was nothing wrong with the instructor and how she taught the class. The reason I should have quit was time. The class didn’t meet my expectations. I could have spent my time on productive non-school related activities such as reading books and going to the gym.

The lesson I learned is quit when the going gets too rough.

Mistake 15: Too Much Fun In The Summer

My summer vacations were fun and, sometimes, boring. I didn’t concentrate on my summer school classes. I watched too much television. I didn’t go to camp, didn’t do activities to make new friends, didn’t play sports, and didn’t read books. I did fun activities with my brother or by myself. My cousin or the neighborhood kid sometimes joined us. There was little parent involvement. My mom signed my siblings and I up for swimming and piano lessons. Out of many summer activities my mom could have involved us with, we hated those two lessons. My mom didn’t ask what we wanted.

My college summer vacations remained the same. I stayed home throughout most of my college summers having too much fun. I didn’t seek an internship. I didn’t seek part-time employment. Pitiful. I was lucky my senses woke me up to get a summer job on my last college summer. I found a job at Blockbuster. I continued working at Blockbuster throughout my final year.

The lesson I learned is have fun and learn during summer vacations.

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