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+Mistakes help us shore up where we lack knowledge and help us see the gaps that we have. They also are a reminder to pause a bit and not get too wound up in the urgency of things. I know that my own mistakes tend to happen when I'm rushing to meet a deadline (whether real or self-imposed). My worst mistakes happen when I'm tired and rushed, where I'm practically flailing at the keyboard trying to get something, anything, working. Allowing myself to pause for a moment, reflect on what it is that I'm trying to do, and see the uncertainty in the moment allows me the moment I need to recalibrate and refocus in the moment.
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+## Journaling our mistakes
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+There's value in not making the same mistakes twice. But it also brings some self-recrimination when we realize that we've made the same mistake again.
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+One trick that I use more infrequently than I would like is journaling. Journaling about what happened and how we fixed it is one way to explain to someone else (ourselves) what happened. Explaining what happened allows us to become a teacher to ourselves and reinforces the learning process. By explaining what happened in words that someone else will need to understand we give ourselves the ability to articulate our own thoughts about what happened and codify them.
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+This isn't about keeping a record for posterity so we can go back and find opportunities to beat ourselves up about the past. It's a way to teach ourselves and maximize the learning process. It's about giving ourselves the freedom to be the instructor to our future self so we can be more aware when a mistake is about to happen and understand how to correct it. It allows us to focus on the moment just long enough to understand what happened, what we did to correct it, and how we can best proceed from here. It also helps us to locate where our gaps are and the next actions that we'll need to take in order to shore up those gaps.
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+We'll talk more about journaling in later chapters but I fully recommend a journaling habit if for no other reason than it gives you a willing apprentice to teach, even if that apprentice is only yourself.