Can a mistake be just a mistake and not a lesson learned?

Yes. Making a left turn out of a driveway before a blind curve.

@janbb – There were no lessens learned from this, or insight about attention and driving?

@hominid Not really since I literally could not have seen the car that was coming so fast around that curve. I was the one at fault but I’m not sure what I could have done differently except not pulled out to the left there.

@janbb Next time make a right turn and get rear ended and it will then be their “mistake”! ;)

@janbb – I’m not saying that you were at fault in any way, or that there was something you could have done differently. But was there nothing you learned or gained from that experience. I mean, it could even be as simple as gaining a perspective about the dangers of driving, or even strengthening a feeling of the fragility and/or precious nature of life?

I don’t know. I am not sure I am a good judge of my own mistakes. There are things I called “mistakes” when I was younger. If I had not made them, I would not have met my wife, and had never known my 3 amazing kids.

@hominid Oh sure – we can discuss this to death but that was the first thing that came to mind, and I wish it had never happened. I don’t particularly see it as a life lesson I needed to learn but certainly I am a very careful driver.

If you don’t learn from your mistakes you keep doing the same thing over and over again. And the same attempts will generate the same results, which some people use as the definition of insanity.

@janbb, I think that in your case, the lesson to be learned is not by you, but by those responsible for safety measures in the area. Could a mirror, such as used in retail establishments, be installed across the street to warn of vehicles about to turn the curve?
Perhaps a sensor which activates a warning light, so approaching traffic can be aware there is activity around the curve. I agree there doesn’t seem to be anything you could have done different with your given circumstances. I would think the lesson be, “What new safety measures could prevent future occurances?”

I get pulled over a lot, but I simply can’t drive at a normal pace. I’ve accepted it as a flaw so my only mistake now is getting caught speeding.

Seems to me that practically any mistake, regardless of size and whether one’s own or someone else’s, provides some sort of learning opportunity. To use your example, grabbing baking powder instead of baking soda would harm a recipe, so the lesson would be to mark each canister more clearly and/or not keep them side by side in the cabinet. Not a huge life lesson in the grand scheme of things, but a pretty good one for cooks.

Your example provides another lesson. When I Googled it, I found out that if you don’t have baking powder you can substitute ¼ tsp. baking soda plus 5/8 tsp. cream of tartar per 1 tsp. baking powder.

@Pachy That proves there is a lesson to be learned in every mistake including do not cook with out your readers on. But seriously, who the hell has cream of tartar in their kitchen??

Me.

@Jonesn4burgers

did your parents learn?

I always have cream of tartar.

I would say the only mistakes we don’t learn from are ones we know better already, but proceeded to do something that we consider a mistake.

Most peoples driving habits are mistakes they never learn from, all mistakes no matter how small are a chance to learn from and grow,but a lot of people choose not to.

Should have pointed out even your example of the baking soda ,after that mistake next time you will look and make sure you don’t do it again. RIGHT??

@SQUEEKY2 Truth be told I don’t make simple mistakes like that when I cook…I copped that example from the Food Network. During an episode of Celebrity cook off Judy Gold used salt instead of sugar and that sure looked like a mistake to me….but now I feel I was mistaken! lol

As part of my quest for peace-of-mind, I developed the habit of seeking the lesson or silver lining in every situation. I believe that there are simple mistakes, but even then there is the lesson to be more mindful, right?

I once farted on the set of The Blue Lagoon.

… and what did you learn from that experience, @Blondesjon?

@hearkat He was hired for the special effects to give that bubbly serene panoramic view of the underwater scenes.

@Cruiser: Then it wasn’t a mistake at all! * flags Jon’s comment as off-topic*

@hearkat He was supposed to blow the bubbles through a straw with his mouth…he was subsequently fired. The question remains..was this a mistake or is there a lesson to be learned?

@Cruiser: That’s why I asked him…

Terrence slapped Brooke Shields for the comment on Letterman.

A non-sequitur is a mistake without a lesson. ish

@rojo, sorry. I was responding to @Pachy‘s Q about cream of tartar. I was an accident, but not a mistake.

The problem is that everything in my opinion is some type of learning experience, though sometimes people chose the hard way to accomplish this it seems. Unfortunately, not everybody appears to learn from perpetual mistakes, like my deceased brother for example.