This is a story about a famous research scientist who had made several very important medical
breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was
able to be so much more creative than the average person. What set him so far apart from others?
He responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with his mother that occurred when he was
about two years old. He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he los this grip
on the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling its contents allover the kitchen floor creating a veritable sea of milk!
When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him, giving him a lecture, or punishing him, she
said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of
milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few
minutes before we clean it up?"
Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like
this, eventually you have to clean it upend restore everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do
that? We could use a sponge, a towel, or a mop. Which do you prefer?" He chose the sponge and together
they cleaned up the spilled milk.
His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a failed experimenting how to effectively carry a big
milk bottle with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can
discover a way to carry it without dropping it." The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top
near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful lesson!
This renowned scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be afraid to
make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new,
which's, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't work," we usually
learn something valuable from it...
breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was
able to be so much more creative than the average person. What set him so far apart from others?
He responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with his mother that occurred when he was
about two years old. He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he los this grip
on the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling its contents allover the kitchen floor creating a veritable sea of milk!
When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him, giving him a lecture, or punishing him, she
said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of
milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few
minutes before we clean it up?"
Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like
this, eventually you have to clean it upend restore everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do
that? We could use a sponge, a towel, or a mop. Which do you prefer?" He chose the sponge and together
they cleaned up the spilled milk.
His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a failed experimenting how to effectively carry a big
milk bottle with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can
discover a way to carry it without dropping it." The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top
near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful lesson!
This renowned scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be afraid to
make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new,
which's, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't work," we usually
learn something valuable from it...
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