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A famous scientist was asked, “What sets you apart from others?” He replied, “All came from an experience as a kid.” I was trying to get a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when I was 5, but lost my grip and the bottle slipped and fell, spilling all the milk. When my mother saw this, instead of yelling, she said, ‘The damage has been done. Would you like to play in the milk before we clean it up?’ He played in the milk after which his mother said, “When you make a mess, you also have to clean it up.” After he cleaned up the milk, she said, ‘This was a failed experiment in how to carry a big bottle with two small hands. Let’s fill the same bottles with water and see if you can carry it without dropping.’ The scientist remarked, “At that moment I knew I don’t have to be afraid to make mistakes and they were opportunities to learn something new. That’s what scientific experiments are all about. Even if they fail, we learn something from them.”

 Another famous scientist Thomas Edison said that it took him 10,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb but he said, ‘I have not failed. I have just found 9999 ways that do not work’. As investors too we make several mistakes whether it is to time the market and get it wrong; not to follow a prescribed asset allocation; to stop SIPs in a bear market; to invest in a single asset class without diversification; to have a short term investment horizon in equities; among others. For eg, those who have seen the 2003 up cycle and then the 2008 down cycle would have realised that staying invested across cycles and investing regularly helps to create wealth over the long run. In fact, mistakes may not be costly if you keep learning from them and keep improving.