The smartest people you know use failure as a tool to improve

Most people think of wisdom as an arrival. You accumulate enough experience or perspective, then you get there. You become the sage. And stop making mistakes.

They’ve got it completely backward. The wisest or smartest people I know are still making mistakes. They’re just much better at noticing them, sitting with them, and learning from them. “Let’s never speak of this again” is not a thing for them. Wisdom is a practice. And failure is the training.

Experience alone is not enough.