Mistakes

The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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I agree with the concept that if you don't make mistakes you aren't taking risks.  We wouldn't have things like airplanes or hotdogs without risk takers.

I also agree that this is another examples of a situation where deconstructing a word helps us understand it better.  

"Mistakes" = "my stakes."  MY = something belonging to me.  STAKES = A piece of wood or metal pointed at one end for driving into the ground as a marker, fence pole, or tent peg.  Therefore, mistakes literally means my thing for holding up a tent.

The other way of deconstructing this is "mist" "akes."  That means that your body hurts when it's misty outside if you have arthritis.