Tonight I had some macaroni salad for dinner that I had bought at the grocery store. I had a fork, a plate, and a tub of macaroni.
I thought to myself, “maybe I can hold the plate up to the lip of the tub, and spoon the macaroni onto the plate with my fork.”
“spoon my macaroni onto the plate with my fork.”
That should have been the first clue. And it was.
The second thought that crossed my mind was, “I’m probably going to spill a lot of macaroni. I should probably just get a big spoon.”
Then I spooned macaroni with a fork. And spilled about 40% of it on the table. Then I turned around, reached into the drawer, grabbed a spoon, and finished without spilling.
Anyone else out there who knows they’re doing something in an ineffective way, and just need to witness it first hand before changing plans?
To answer the thread question itself, no, you can simply witness someone else doing something wrong for you to understand that that’s not the way to do it.
All the time! My weekend hobby is metal work. Blacksmithing, welding, sand casting. Much of my knowledge is by trial and error. I like to look at something and determine how it was made and how I would go about making it.
I have learned a lot from just the very basics. I spend a lot of time making tools so I can make other tools to get the shape I want. Green sand casting has been the most fun, figuring out the right mixture of clay water and sand to get the most detail. I have learned the best way to bend and shape steel in various forms.
My only saving grace is safety is always top on the list. Being burned is not something I want to have happen out in the shop.
My wife once took a programming course that used a textbook (by Kernighan and ???) that said that if you analyzed the problem sufficiently carefully, you could write a program that was bug-free. Bull! Unless your analysis lasts just short of forever (or the program is trivial) you will make mistakes. Guaranteed. Humans learn by error.
My reaction to that would be simple: “Pfffttt… you’re not doing it right let me do it.” And I’d take the fork and spoon the macaroni in around the same way you did it.
Hopefully I’d only spill 15%. And then I’d declare myself the Victor.
So… Yes. Sometimes.
I’m not sure if it is because I’m left-handed, but I never, ever can figure out which way to turn screws, keys, faucets, whatever. Whatever way is the incorrect way, is the way I always do it. Yes, I say the phrase “lefty loosey, righty tighty,” it still doesn’t help me do it the right way.
Do you drive a car?.. If someone said “Turn right!”… I’m sure you’d know where to go. Same with screws, faucets, and the like.
Now, you have to also keep in mind that this rule isn’t always in effect, and sometimes people make mistakes when installing things like faucets, and such things can be a real headache to deal with.
In regards to the OP -
I think it’s important that mistakes are made, or at least good to be aware of, especially in a sense that you’d rather make a mistake, and learn from it, at a time when you don’t have a lot on your plate than to make that mistake at a critical time.