Use the arrow keys to navigate between menu items.

The weekly 1%: Learning from others

2 minutes read

I make it a point to learn from my mistakes. It's a good way to learn not to be afraid of making them, which is inevitable. And it's a great way to grow.

But it has a limitation. You can only go through so many mistakes in your lifetime. Which is why there's an even better way to grow: learning from other people's mistakes. There's no ceiling here. I can always find other people smarter than me, who've made mistakes to problems I didn't even consider. And rather than repeat their mistakes, I can learn from them.

So that's my advice today. Try to learn from your mistakes, but never stop looking left and right to learn from others. They've lived experiences you might not get a chance to live yourself.

I don't have a disability so the only way I can relate to people with disabilities is by talking with them, observing them and learning from them.

I can't hope to fully understand what a person with ADHD goes through every day. There's no way for me to relate to how a person with motor impairments uses a computer. I can't even begin to imagine how a person who is blind experiences the web.

What I can only hope is that I am smart enough to listen attentively to what they say they feel and learn from that. Learn to adapt how I create digital experiences to what they need in their lives.

And then pass on that knowledge and help others do the same. So that they don't make the same mistakes I made to get here.

Did you enjoy this bite-sized message?

I send out short emails like this every day to help you gain a fresh perspective on accessibility and understand it without the jargon, so you can build more robust products that everyone can use, including people with disabilities.

You can unsubscribe in one click and I will never share your email address.