In the 850th episode of the radio program Suspense, called “Stranger with My Face,” the lead actor, Bernard Grant, says the phrase, “as useless as yesterday’s newspaper.” That lead actor plays a character suffering from amnesia.
Maybe amnesia is what we need whenever we experience failure. As parents, teachers, mentors, and coaches advise, “What’s past is past; time to move on, to focus on goals. No sense dwelling in the past.”
All those advisors are right, of course. Yes, we can learn from failures, but learning from is different from dwelling on failure. In every sense except the lessons learned, dwelling on failures is as useless as reading yesterday’s newspaper. If you want to reread that paper, you’ll find the same story—regardless of the number of times you read it.
Recognize that dwelling on past mistakes is really not much different from rereading that old paper. It isn’t news anymore; it’s history.
Maybe amnesia is what we need whenever we experience failure. As parents, teachers, mentors, and coaches advise, “What’s past is past; time to move on, to focus on goals. No sense dwelling in the past.”
All those advisors are right, of course. Yes, we can learn from failures, but learning from is different from dwelling on failure. In every sense except the lessons learned, dwelling on failures is as useless as reading yesterday’s newspaper. If you want to reread that paper, you’ll find the same story—regardless of the number of times you read it.
Recognize that dwelling on past mistakes is really not much different from rereading that old paper. It isn’t news anymore; it’s history.
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